Sairey Gamp: generating fact from fiction

Australian midwives today are generally employed by maternity hospitals as obstetric or maternity nurses and specialize in only one area of the childbirthing process, under the umbrella of medicine. This is quite different to the provision of midwifery care in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Australia, when childbirthing took place within a home setting, with a community midwife in attendance under the umbrella of the household. Australian midwives are now attempting to regain some of the autonomy that they believe was possessed by midwives of the past by being professionally accredited to operate as independent midwives. The de-institutionalization of childbirthing cannot simply come about by giving midwives accreditation to operate as autonomous practitioners, as the forces that led society to institutionalize childbirthing practices, as well as the avenues for change, are complex. This paper examines one of the forces behind that change: the denigration of the image of the community midwife by the medical and nursing professions, through the character of Sairey Gamp created by Charles Dickens. By examining the historical terrain and the historical influences that led to the demise of the community midwife, we can provide answers for debate on the present status of the midwife.