Compromiso Social y Género: la Historia de las Matronas en España en la Segunda República, la Guerra Civil y la Autarquía (1931-1955)

The interest in studying the figure of the midwife during the Second Republic, the Civil War and the Autarchy has been motivated by her unique characteristics within the female groups of Spanish society. It was the only group, exclusively female, that had higher levels of education than the general population at the end of the 1930s. Midwives were considered, by the rebel side, especially dangerous people, because of the possible influence they could have on other women, since, being in charge of female reproductive health, they could constitute a risk for the morality of the population. These pages will reveal women, almost anonymous, who were great fighters for women's equality and the defense of their profession within the narrow margin allowed by patriarchy. The book is structured in four main parts. The first three parts analyze, successively, how childbirth care varied and what happened to midwives in three historical periods: Second Republic, Civil War and Autarchy. The fourth part gathers the essential biographical, labor and political data of the protagonists of our historical research, approximately two hundred and fifty midwives.