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87th out of 575 books
—
742 voters
Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers
Women have always been healers, and medicine has always been an arena of struggle between female practitioners and male professionals. This pamphlet explores two important phases in the male takeover of health care: the suppression of witches in medieval Europe and the rise of the male medical profession in the United States. The authors conclude that despite efforts to ex...more
Paperback, 48 pages
Published
January 1st 1993
by The Feminist Press at CUNY
(first published November 30th 1970)
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This was quite an interesting read for a non-feminist, 21st century medical student. From 1972, Barbara and Deirdre bring us an academic, synthesized approach to the History of female health professionals. It is quite obvious that women have always been the cornerstone of the medical arts, but for some obscure reason have never been regarded as so.
In the dark ages, we called them witches, inferior to the rational knowledge of physicians and sought out feverishly, for even when their treatments...more
In the dark ages, we called them witches, inferior to the rational knowledge of physicians and sought out feverishly, for even when their treatments...more
I am a fan of Barbara Ehrenreich's work as well as a fan of midwifery, and so it was with great interest that I picked up this pamphlet. However, I naively expected it to go in depth into the history of midwifery and women healers. I was not anticipating that having been written two years before I was born, the over-riding feminist perspective and thesis of this work. I have never stopped to consider that the nursing profession is a way of oppressing women and keeping them locked into the mother...more
Dec 28, 2010
Jen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
midwifery-history,
feminism
I adored this book, especially since the authors included a caveat at the beginning which attempted to neutralize any overly-vehement or one-sided arguments, "...we ... cringe a little at what read now like overstatements and overly militant ways of stating things." From what I've read of Ehrenreich's work, I wonder if more of her books wouldn't be better-served to have this type of warning in the introduction.
Nevertheless, I was able to overlook what I thought were glaring omissions. For exampl...more
Nevertheless, I was able to overlook what I thought were glaring omissions. For exampl...more
This book was written when I was a preschooler, and it just boggles my mind what a different world it was back then. My mother has said that she started college studying pharmacology but after a year or two her father told her it was time to get serious and her career options were to be a nurse (as her SIL did) or be a teacher, which she chose and then hated.
I would be very interested in learning more of the history of women healers, as the subtitle of this book says it is, but this felt much m...more
I would be very interested in learning more of the history of women healers, as the subtitle of this book says it is, but this felt much m...more
This short read is packed with historical information. I read this for a feminist study course many years ago and it is one that has stuck with me. I believe that the topics discussed in this book are an important part of history that are unfortunately, not as widely known as they should. I do think that the text is somewhat out dated, being written in the 1970s. I also believe that the text would have been enriched by the pioneer woman's role in healing and midwifery. Of course the topic of thi...more
This short pamphlet tells the story of males and the State taking supremacy over medicine, a field traditionally led by women healers. Most interesting to me is the history of the witch-crazes that helped launch capitalism.
From my limited readings (not just this pamphlet), my understanding is that during the 13th-15th century in Europe there were regular peasant rebellions against a decaying feudal order. To undercut these movements, aristocrats and the Church created the bogeyman of witches (m...more
From my limited readings (not just this pamphlet), my understanding is that during the 13th-15th century in Europe there were regular peasant rebellions against a decaying feudal order. To undercut these movements, aristocrats and the Church created the bogeyman of witches (m...more
Interesting start to sorting the overreaction against certain people engaging in healing activities.
Unfortunately, it fails to recognize that historically, witches, midwives, and wise women engaged in activities that far exceeded the healing that the authors ascribe to them. Healing can be accomplished by sorcery and energy manipulation should one wish to go that route, and the Church realized the spiritual danger in such a decision by Christians. Hammering the evildoers was a terrible choice f...more
Unfortunately, it fails to recognize that historically, witches, midwives, and wise women engaged in activities that far exceeded the healing that the authors ascribe to them. Healing can be accomplished by sorcery and energy manipulation should one wish to go that route, and the Church realized the spiritual danger in such a decision by Christians. Hammering the evildoers was a terrible choice f...more
For a much better version of this theme, arguing for much more than the mere inclusion of women into the medical industrial complex, please read 'Caliban and the Witch' by Silvia Federici. Compared to this book 'Witches, Midwives and Nurses' isn't worth a second of your time. The writing and history is somewhat sloppy. What can one expect from a cursory glance at the witch trials of Europe and witchcraft but an obvious lack of nuance meant to justify an inclusionary bourgeois politics? Barf. The...more
Sep 05, 2012
Sara
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Nurses, midwives, nurse-midwives, feminists, humans
A quick read that summarizes things that I've heard/read/intuited/somehow learned before, with additional elaboration and actual dates and times - tells the story of the Goddess-worshipping women that the men of the Catholic Church were so afraid of, with their healing powers and lack of sexual shame - and how that battle between ideologies and genders has been carried through today. Amazingly timely, considering it was written quite a while ago - unfortunately. It shows the inherent unease in t...more
This pamphlet obviously has some dated info. The statistics about male to female med school ratios are laughable in our time where numbers have largely equalized. Still, one of the main reasons I did not choose medical school as my own entry into healthcare is the ongoing if not out right patriarchy of medicine then at least its overbearing paternalism. I don’t think the answer necessarily will come from direct reform of the professional role of physician as much as it will come from the diversi...more
Dec 08, 2010
Jessica
added it
Funny story about how I came to own an original copy of this. The women's center at my alma mater was dismantled, sad story, and all of the books were left out in the campus center. I was looking through and thought this was of interest. I didn't pick it up until about 5 years later when I was doing research on childbirth and picked up For Her Own Good and read the introduction and realized that For Her Own Good is an expanded version of this pamphlet.
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Way more a treatise than anything, this little booklet appeared early-ish in Ehrenreich's career, clearly indicating the direction she would take as a critic of contemporary society. Excellent critique of the history of (mostly Western) healing. 5 stars for content and criticism. If you're not into feminist critique, don't bother. Her essay "Welcome to Cancerland," though, is an eye-opener for all women with breasts This history of women healers provides a rock-solid foundation for understanding...more
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A brief read packed with a great deal of information. It will provide you with information on how women have fought to be healers or care providers for centuries often to be thwarted and/or punished by male leaders both political and religious, as well as male professionals. Knowing much of this information prior to reading it, as a female care provider, I still found myself often times angry as I read it. It was a great history lesson for me.
Although this book did raise some interesting points, it left out lots of key parts of history and frankly missed the point on a lot of strides in medicine. I do believe that up until recently medicine was certainly a male dominated field and nursing was largely subservient. However, licensing and professional standards are not designed to exclude classes of people from medicine, they are designed to protect the patient and society from lay practitioners (they can be very dangerous when it comes...more
This was a short history of women's place in the history of medicine. It told of how lay healers went from being necessary, ordinary societal staples, to being hunted as witches as medicine became an established male practice. It also tells of the rise of nursing and how it's early role compares to today's (wildly, crazily different). This had a decidedly feminist rant to it. Still worth it.
For a rather academic text, this is an easy read. It's organized in short chapters, (it's only 48 pages total), and lays out historical events in a clear narrative. It's dry, but you'll get an infuriating picture of how classism and sexism helped ruin our healthcare system and how the medical profession reinforces that classism and sexism. You'll also get more evidence that Barbara Ehrenreich is bad-ass.
The history of nurses and midwives is what attracted my attention to this book. However, there is a feminist agenda with a definite political feel. Written in 1973, it has the feel of fighting docs rather than figuring out how to work with them. An updated version would be interesting for me to see how historians would record the last 40 years.
Alot of interesting facts, but SO dated, it was almost amusing. I came of age as a nurse just as the subservient nature of nursing was changing thank goodness!! The author also didn't give Florence Nightengale enough credit for her intellect, use of statistics and progressive thinking in her approach to teh care of the sick.
A quick read with a lot of information. This book is oft-quoted, so I've read many parts of it in other places, but I am glad that I've now read it straight from the source. I love the way that she tied together the witch trials, the attack on midwifery and lay healers, and the emergence of nursing. I found it well worth the time spent!
This is more of a pamphlet than a book. I was actually disappointed in the content. I thought there would be more emphasis put on the midwife/witch, nurse/witch connection. Instead the focus was more on the persecution of witches... and the persecution of women healers. It just wasn't what I expected.
In researching about the persecution of women in the catholic church's history, i found this book to be a fast read without sacrificing substance. Simply a great read!
By the author of "Nickeled and Dimed" . This looks like a really interesting book, specially as midwifery is not allowed in Alabama.
I have this book and it served as a good historical foundation in the way midwives were treated historically and presently.
Aug 05, 2012
Diana
added it
Excellant...the true history of medicine....makes me proud to call myself a medical professiona and a healer
Not fully developed, lots of thoughts left unfinished, much too short for all the topics they tried to cover.
A great book and a fantastic primer on the history of female healers and how they were suppressed.
Makes you glad we're women living in 21st century. A frighteningly accurate document.
A very short but informative read. More of a pamphlet than a book, but gives a great overview of the history of women in medicine. What once was primarily a female healing role (particularly in the realms of birth and obstetrics) was coopted by male-dominated "science." Eventually even birth was taken from the hands of women, especially in America, where midwifery is still considered by some to be fringe and "dangerous." One of the most fascinating parts of this book was how the role of nurses w...more
short. important. openly political & rightly so. preface to 2nd edition helpfully elucidates historical context in which it was written.
I only wish it had academic footnotes . . .
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| The Feminist Press: working women | 2 | 11 | Aug 17, 2011 06:59am |
Barbara Ehrenreich is the bestselling author of sixteen previous books, including the bestsellers Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. A frequent contributor to Harpers and The Nation, she has also been a columnist at The New York Times and Time Magazine.
More about Barbara Ehrenreich...
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