ABSTRACT

In this chapter I focus upon the working conditions for hospital midwives, with the metaphor of the factory, with its notions of production, demand and efficient supply, against linear time, being central to their experiences. I highlight midwives as the main group of people with whom women engage while in hospital and illustrate ways in which they negotiate and indeed ‘process’ their work, given the enormous constraints upon them. The impact of midwives’ ways of working in hospital upon the experiences of women is illustrated.