This study examines the oral histories of midwives who practiced in Ontario without legal status in the two decades prior to the enactment of midwifery legislation on December 31, 1993. The following questions are answered: Who were Ontario’s pre-legislation midwives? What inspired and motivated them to take up practice on the margins of official health care? Current scholarship on late twentieth century Ontario midwifery focuses on a social scientific analysis of midwifery’s transition from a grassroots movement to a regulated profession. Pre-legislation midwives are commonly portrayed as a homogenous group of white, educated, middle class women practicing a “pure” midwifery unmediated by medicine and the law. Analysis of the oral history narratives of twenty-one “alegal” Ontario midwives reveals more complex and nuanced understandings of midwives and why they practiced during this period. The midwives’ oral histories make an important contribution to the growing historiography on modern Canadian midwifery.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35553 |
| Date | 10 July 2013 |
| Creators | Allemang, Elizabeth Mae |
| Contributors | Morgan, Cecilia |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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