Witches Midwives and Nurses gives an idea of the opposition that is

Witches Midwives and Nurses, gives an idea of the opposition that is to come working as a woman but also as a midwife.This book uncovers the long hidden history of women’s health practitioners. As the readers journey through the 11th century – 15th century European witch hunts and then continue through the 1800s- early 1900s in the United States it is clearly seen how women’s ability to care for and heal in their communities were largely taken from them. And as a result women and minorities’ health have been slighted. The regained history in this book reveal the reasons behind the struggles of today’s women health workers and natural health and alternative health practitioners. From early on women healers have been sensible and effective but despite this these women have been feared. Through the history of the European witch killings it is shown that not only did the church clergy feel that their religious doctrines were threatened but also because of the simple remedies used by these women healers among the poor, the elite male “doctors” of the time felt threatened, all on top of the fact of the healers’ “offensive” sex. These women healers were seen as uneducated, unrefined, and seductresses only wanting to lead men to sin. For these classest, sexist, and religious reasons these women were hunted and burned at the stake. The situation didn’t get much better in the “New World” and as medicine progressed. Medical licenses became required but also untouchable to women. Many schools refused women or were too expensive for women to attend. So the nursing profession emerged, truly only as an extension of the woman’s desired role in the home. All those women outside of the nursing or nursing type fields of medicine are largely marginalized.This book essentially explains the reasons for male domination in today’s health field.