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Wartime women giving birth : narratives of pregnancy and childbirth, Britain c. 1939–1960
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Davis, Angela (2014) Wartime women giving birth : narratives of pregnancy and childbirth, Britain c. 1939–1960. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C : Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Volume 47 . pp. 257-266. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.007 ISSN 1369-8486.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.007
Abstract
Women in Second World War Britain benefitted from measures to improve maternal and child health. Infant and maternal mortality rates continued to fall, new drugs became available, and efforts were made to improve the health of mothers and babies through the provision of subsidised milk and other foodstuffs. However, in return, women were also expected to contribute to the war effort through motherhood, and this reflected wider cultural ideas in the North Atlantic world in the first half of the twentieth century which equated maternity with military service. The aim of this article is to examine the interplay between narratives of birth and narratives of war in the accounts of maternity from women of the wartime generation. It will explore how the military-maternity analogy sheds light on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Britain during the Second World War, whilst also considering maternity within women's wider role as 'domestic soldiers', contributing to the war effort through their traditional work as housewives and mothers. In doing so, the article reveals the complexity of women's narratives. It demonstrates that they do not simply conform to the 'medical vs. social' binary, but reflect the wider cultural context in which women gave birth. Women incorporated the dominant discourses of the period, namely those around war, into their accounts.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D731 World War II D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History > Centre for the History of Medicine | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Pregnancy -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Childbirth -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Motherhood -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C : Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences | ||||||
| Publisher: | Pergamon Press | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1369-8486 | ||||||
| Official Date: | September 2014 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Volume 47 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 257-266 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.007 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
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