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From autonomy and back again: educating midwives across a century - Part 2

Abstract:

By the time these women’s groups were advocating for an autonomous midwife, midwifery itself was at its lowest point. By 1971 the word ‘midwife’ had been removed from the title of the legislation altogether. Although the separate register for midwives was retained, midwifery was seen as a specialist postgraduate area of nursing practice rather than a separate profession in its own right. Midwives had lost their relative autonomy and worked instead with delegated authority under the supervision of doctors. The maternity service no longer needed autonomous midwives because the majority of women gave birth in hospitals under medical care. Childbirth was seen as a pathological event requiring hospitalisation and medical intervention in order to achieve a safe outcome. In 1979 the six-month midwifery courses were closed and instead midwifery became an ‘option’ module within the polytechnic-based Advanced Diploma of Nursing (ADN). Interestingly it was this downgrading of midwifery education that provided the catalyst for midwives to become politically active in an eff ort to claim a separate identity to nursing.

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1971 Nurses Act, direct entry programme, history of midwifery, loss of midwifery autonomy, midwifery education