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
Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- 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
Already in 1589 Munich was offering regular midwifery courses making Munich the oldest midwifery school (in Europe) …It has been a long journey from that point to now. The knowledge and abilities of midwives have been along every step of the way. Many wonder where (the profession) will go from here. Even before the start of the last war, some were questioning the viability of midwifery education and whether or not it would be easier to replace the practice with nurses who have taken additional pediatric training. Up to this point, however, midwives have protected their right to separate and unique training. Yet, there are still midwives out there today who refuse to give up the designation surrender themselves to being called nurses.
Wichard Bickenbach et al. (eds), Hebammenlehrbuch (1962)Where Has it Been and Where Does the Story Go from Here?
The journey leading German midwives to their niche within the professionalization of modern medicine has been, and in many ways continues to be, one marked by triumph and conflicts. Over the centuries, midwives have gained, lost and regained recognition in the public realm. At the heart have been questions of who controls access to authority, expertise and autonomy.
If one defines professionalism in terms of codes governing public responsibility then the story started as far back as the fourteenth century with the Reformation of the Council of Trier, followed shortly thereafter by its sister codes in Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Munich and elsewhere. Male administrators used various laws within the codes to control the public role of these women such as the stipulation that only midwives who had sworn an official oath to a city were legally permitted to work inside its walls. Interactions between city officials and midwives were not only about gender (male officials regulating duties of female birth assistants), but also about class (patrician ‘honourable women’, and later slightly lower ranked ‘jury women’, used by city officials to control the actions of even lower ranked midwives).
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- Modern German Midwifery, 1885–1960 , pp. 175 - 182Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014