MEN IN WOMEN ’ S WORLD
These days we often hear of career women making their way in a man ’ s world — but what of the men doing ‘ women ’ s work ’? Men could now be seen in doing jobs known to be women ’ s job , for instance nurse and midwives , whenever these two words are mention everybody thinks about women especially midwifery is traditionally seen as the care of pregnant women by women but in today ’ s world it ’ s different case .
According to a research I did on male midwives , literally men started getting involved with the care of pregnant women , from the 16th Century and this was the time the term " man-midwife " started to be used . The Medical Acts of 1858 and 1886 consolidated the position of the " man-midwife ", who became the forerunners of the obstetric specialist .
The first midwives Act started in 1902 when the Female practitioners gained legal recognition . This prohibited the practice of midwifery by unqualified women , but unqualified men could still practice . This loophole was closed in 1926 .
The Midwives Act of 1952 prohibited men from training and practicing as midwives . Despite this Act man still have the courage to help out pregnant women as well as female mid wives , as in the late 1960s and early 1970s some number of male nurses began challenging the idea that men cannot be midwives .
After their challenges and persistent they were fortunate that an amendment to the bill to remove the barriers to men entering midwifery , providing certain restrictions were abided by , as well as two midwifery schools were allocated to the training of male midwifes , which were to be monitored to ascertain the suitability of men as midwives .
After completing the whole research , I came to a conclusion that it really took male midwives a long way to get to where they are today , but the big question here is , do society respect and value them as much , or are their efforts appreciated by people regardless of their religions and cultural backgrounds ? Below are the opinions I gathered from various people I spoke with including a male nurse . cont ..
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