Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
4 - Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
In order to become a midwife, one needs good schooling, a healthy dose of self-under-standing, and good common sense. But a woman who wishes to dedicate herself to this difficult and valuable occupation must also have passion and love. Her aim should not be one of financial gain, but a desire to help fellow sisters in their time of need.
Prussian Midwifery Textbook, 1905A national association with an extensive membership and international connections, a trade journal with wide circulation figures and a legally-defined occupational sphere protected by government regulations all represent major achievements within modern German midwifery. At the same time, achieving these markers of professional identity did not mean midwifery's function as a conduit between the public and private spheres disappeared. The actions of midwives continue to reflect dominant social norms into the modern period because childbirth remains a socially constructed process. While its biology is constant (women conceive, gestate and deliver), how a woman delivers (standing, sitting, flat on her back), where she delivers (home, hospital, clinic) and who attends (doctor, midwife, other) reflect the customs and values of the society in which they occur. As a result, even though German midwifery professionalized in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, practitioners still performed their function in accordance with the priorities and values of the larger society. This reflection of societal constructs is particularly evident in examining midwifery education. Education policies in general reveal both what a society holds as significant at a given moment and where that society wants to be in the future. Midwifery education intensifies this representation of norms because midwives already have historical precedent as agents of the administrative authority. Midwifery education consciously reflects the desire to protect the societal status quo.
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- Information
- Modern German Midwifery, 1885–1960 , pp. 95 - 120Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014