ABSTRACT
In order to be able to describe the role of the man in childbirth it may be helpful to go back to our roots. This resonates with the old adage ‘If you want to know the way forward, you must know where you’ve come from’. In this chapter the aim is to examine where the society of which we are members has come from in this respect. Thus this chapter comprises, first, an analysis of relevant crosscultural issues. These issues will lead into an assessment of the literature on the history of the man in childbearing. By using these complementary approaches it will be possible to show why the man has traditionally been, and in many societies still is, excluded from childbearing related matters. This material will guide us to consider the series of events which, in modern Western society, have permitted this exclusion to be, not merely abandoned, but to actually be reversed.
