Story: Women’s movement

Save the Midwives

Midwifery and feminism were a good fit. Feminists believed that women needed control of their own fertility and pregnancies, and that women understood each others' needs better than men. Midwives were more likely to favour less medicalised births, and generally provided a less authoritarian service than doctors. In 1983, when Parliament began considering legislation that would reduce midwifery to a branch of nursing, Save the Midwives was set up.

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Auckland City Libraries - Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, Sir George Grey Special Collections
Reference: Eph-Gender-Women'sIssues-1983

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Megan Cook, 'Women’s movement - Health, fertility and education', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/zoomify/27920/save-the-midwives (accessed 29 April 2024)

Story by Megan Cook, published 5 May 2011