ABSTRACT

In feminist historiography the image of the disempowered midwife, expelled by obstetric doctors and eventually male gynaecologists from her natural domain of helping women in childbirth, has been used to symbolize female oppression in general. The subjugation of midwives proved such an adroit symbol because, as Ludmilla Jordanova pointed out, “midwives, being generally women with children themselves, and being associated with birth, were at the centre of feminine stereotypes”. 1 Since the middle of the eighteenth century midwives have indeed been forced to succumb to the growing influence of the medical profession. 2 Yet, this gloomy picture may be too sweeping and too anglocentric. At least research on the Netherlands seems to indicate that Dutch midwives were not methodically driven out of their jobs by power-hungry doctors. In fact the Netherlands are often singled out as the glorious example of the survival of the midwife. “Advocates of midwifery in the United States point to the Netherlands as a model for midwifery care. They note that Dutch midwives have a good deal of autonomy, that they are free to work with little supervision”. 3 Today midwives still attend about 30 per cent of all births in the Netherlands. To quote Hilary Marland: “In the 1990s the Dutch system of obstetric care is unique in the Western world for the predominance of midwife-attended births, the high level of home delivery, and the low rate of intervention in the birthing process.” She continues: “Many see the Dutch system as a model to be followed, because it gives the pregnant woman more choice of where, how, and with whom she will give birth, and the midwife a higher level of professional autonomy”. 4