Women, Medicine and Politics of Gender: Institution of Traditional Midwives in Twentieth Century Bengal

Abstract

Women’s role in biological reproduction is recognized in the Indian society over and above their contributions to social reproduction. For ages, Dais – the traditional midwives - have played important roles in birthing care in India, yet they are subjected to a great deal of social and economic marginalization. Contemporary queries into lives of these women reveal their precarious condition. In contrast, they continue to represent a rich heritage of health care and serve probably as the only resort for those who are yet to benefit from planned and induced development. This current picture has roots in the social history of the institution. The institution has undergone transformation in time. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was shaped largely by the colonial forces of medicalization of childbirth and later joined by the politics of nationalism.