The Making Of A Male Midwife Analysis

The article The making of a male midwife, written by Jon Kelly, focuses on two men and their experiences becoming midwives in a female dominated career path. To start, midwife is broken up into two part, “mid” meaning “with”, and “wif” meaning “woman”. The midwife is a certified nurse who cares for and supports a woman throughout her pregnancy, childbirth, and post care. The career of a midwife goes as far back as the 1550 BCE, where many women worked as midwives and men were later associated as obstetricians. The first encounter of controversy and gender division in this field was in the 1600’s, when scottish surgeon William Smellie published a book on midwifery and new concepts to improve the practice. Additional news of the practice didn't

Billy’s story of becoming a midwife is a bit odd and strays from the “normal” career path for midwives. Billy was in his mid forties when he decided to start a career he was passionate about, after being involved in so many different professions before. He had been interested in midwifery for many year now, but opportunities for males in that profession were never available to Billy before. He says, “My brain didn't have the capacity to think of myself as a midwife,". Billy was first introduced to this field when asked to support and care for two different friend in need of help and support throughout their pregnancy and childbirth. From those experiences, Billy knew what he would do with the rest of his life, “The support I could give as a friend and advocate really moved me,”. In his mid forties, Billy enrolled at King’s College London, where he studied and pursued his long-term dream of becoming a midwife. “He[Billy] remembered, too, how impressed he'd been by the skill of the midwives - how, with the right encouragement, an angry, frightened and unco-operative teenage mum could be helped to calmly get the job

In the field of midwifery, men are the minority for once and have gone to great lengths to be where they are today. The struggles for male midwives can be seen through the diverse stories and experiences of Dilan and Billy, two individuals striving to pursuing what they love. This topic surrounding male midwives is very important to a society that broadcasts women's rights in the workforce, but tends to overlook the same situation from a male’s perspective. It’s important for both genders to be encouraged to do what they love, even if it is an uphill battle. Since then, times have changed, along with gender roles. Society no longer has women stuck at home and men can work in fields previously dominated by women. This article shows just how far society has come to accept new ideas surrounding gender roles and acknowledges the hard work it took countless people to get there. Both Dilan and Billy are thriving in their profession and continue to encourage other males to pick up the practice. On a final note, Billy states, "I think me and the world needed to be on a bit of a journey about gender equality in the workplace and about assigning gender to