ABSTRACT
Starting with the historical development of the midwife profession in Italy up to the present, this chapter illustrates midwives’ representations of doulas, doulas’ representations of midwives, and the inter-professional relations between the two groups. Midwives’ narratives about doulas reflect the duality of positions within the professional organization of midwives that has affected Italian doulas from their inception. While the National Federation of Midwives, and many hospital midwives and institutional representatives, opposes the doula’s emergence, a smaller group of midwives, mainly freelance and community midwives, consider doulas an important support for mothers. In contrast, doulas’ representations of midwives appear uniformly positive, and doulas are willing and eager to increase midwife–doula collaborations. The inter-professional relations between the two groups can lead to different developments, but what seems most realistic to me is that if, within a professional group, some members are willing to cooperate with the neighboring group, animated by the sharing of a common outlook and fundamental values, the conditions for recognition and legitimacy of the formerly subordinated and stigmatized group will be created.
