Anàlisi històric nacional de l’evolució de la professió de llevadora i l’assistència al part: monografia

Abstract

The present work surrounds the theme of the history of the midwives in Spain. Its objective seeks, through a historical analysis, to study and reconstruct how the profession of the midwife in Spain has evolved from a gender perspective, and how this has influenced the attention to the current part. To make this possible, a qualitative bibliographic research was carried out during the months of September-November through different databases and using public libraries; from iconographic sources to documentary sources, such as laws and medical cartels of the time in question. With the results obtained, a common thread is made of how the beginnings of this millennial profession were, where it is shown that, historically, midwives have been the main caregivers of both pregnancy and childbirth. This was a community and empirical event, transmitted orally from generation to generation between women and managed by midwives without a regulated training. In the 18th century, with the appearance of obstetricians, a hierarchization began in the care of childbirth and midwives are progressively excluded from their attention. Later this becomes an institutionalized act, moving from home to hospital, implementing protocols and technologies that reduce mortality but at the same time are increasingly weakening female autonomy. The millennial midwife becomes a nurse specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, under strict medical supervision within a hierarchical model. Finally, movements resurface on a part focused on women and the autonomous role of the midwife, with bets on more respectful and less interventionist care models. The present work confirms that the midwife has been present throughout the history of humanity, and how this has been inseparable from the social, cultural and patriarchal contexts that have wanted to make it invisible and subordinate, as women in general. It is necessary to reassess the professional and autonomous role of the midwife as a key figure in the care of pregnancy and the normal birth, in favor of a more human birth and in favor of the sexual and reproductive health of women in general

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