Chinas nation-building agenda in the early twentieth century embraced the causes of womens rights and medical modernization. Modernizers considered the poor health of the Chinese population to be a major impediment to progress. Specifically, modern midwifery would improve the health of the nation at its most fundamental level, both by lowering the high infant mortality rate and by securing the well-being of future generations. Amid growing interest in maternal and child health, women entered the Western medical profession as midwives, nurses, and obstetrician/gynecologists. Local and national governments in China supported midwife training and research for the health of future generations. Chinas central government established a National Midwifery Board in 1929 to create and oversee training programs and enact laws to regulate modern midwives and physicians. Medical professionals and associations had enough political clout to transform public health policy. They successfully lobbied for legislation and actively advocated adopting aspects of Western medicine for women.
Midwives engendered better and stronger generations by using new methods and equipment. Furthermore, midwife training allowed Chinese women to participate in modernization by joining the labor force, thus challenging traditional Chinese notions of female passivity and seclusion. At the same time, however, these modern midwives displaced the traditional old-style birth grannies who had served as social and ritual mediators within the family and community. This research examines midwifery and childbirth technologies introduced into China in the early twentieth century in relation to nation building, modernization, and changing gender ideologies. By using biographical data, legislation, and articles in the popular press, among other sources, I explore the changing notions of gender propriety that prompted Chinese women to utilize Western-trained midwives, read literature dealing with such intimate matters as childbirth and prenatal training, give birth in hospitals or maternity clinics, and enter the medical profession as midwives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-11032006-153843 |
| Date | 30 January 2007 |
| Creators | Phillips, Tina |
| Contributors | Evelyn Rawski, Maurine Greenwald, Nicole Constable, Seymour Drescher, Ann Jannetta |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-11032006-153843/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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