Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of History
First Advisor
Ann Weikel
Term of Graduation
Winter 1988
Date of Publication
3-18-1988
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.) in History
Department
History
Language
English
Subjects
Obstetrics -- England -- History
DOI
10.15760/etd.5677
Physical Description
1 online resource (4, xii, 231 pages)
Abstract
Until the sixteenth century, childbirth in England was the exclusive domain of women and was orchestrated by the female midwife. By the end of the seventeenth century, university-educated and church-approved male physicians were systematically beginning to usurp the midwife's role in the lying-in room and to gradually assume authority and power over the process of childbirth. Ultimately doctor-dominated childbirth threatened, and in some places accomplished, the displacement of the midwife. No one factor was responsible for the shift in delivery room personnel nor was the transition from female midwives to male obstetricians a "natural" one. This thesis looks at three factors which contributed to the success of the transition: first, midwifery practices and the criticism of them by male medical practitioners; second, the association of midwifery and witchcraft; and third, the failure of attempts, particularly in the seventeenth century, to educate and regulate midwives at a time when the male medical profession was doing just that.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/21238
Recommended Citation
Smith Adams, Karen L., "From 'The Help of Grave and Modest Women' to 'The Care of Men of Sense': The Transition from Female Midwifery to Male Obstetrics in Early Modern England" (1988). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3793.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5677
Comments
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