This study addresses the explicit and implicit exclusion mechanisms that limited the access of women to internships in Paris hospitals during the last decades of the 19th century through examination of the documentation generated in the admission process and the texts of female physicians who supported their access. In response to the applications of female medical students to register for the admission tests, the Conseil de Surveillance de l'Assistance Publique delayed their entry for some years until their registration was finally permitted. However, their inclusion in the institution did not produce integration because of the multiple dimensions of the exclusion mechanisms.