Medieval Mothers Had to Marry and Murder to Get Their Way

Love this article from the Smithsonian:

In the rough-and-tumble setting of medieval England, royal mothers were expected to do far more than just ensure their children, the future monarchs, were healthy and well-educated. She had to wield all her influence and patronage to keep her son in power—and keep her husband from killing him.

Before the Norman Conquest of 1066, royal succession was not fixed. The inheritance rights of young children were often passed over to ensure that an experienced warrior was on the throne. It provided the perfect recipe for royal intrigue, and mothers with sons to defend often faced down tradition—and their own husbands—along the way. Queens were supposed to value their roles as both wives and mothers, but when forced to pick between the two, their children always came first.

By the 13th century, an orderly law of succession began to take shape in England. These days, English royals must fend off the paparazzi instead of Vikings. What remains the same for royalty is the experience of parenting in the public eye—one that’s always trained on mothers of children who will wear the crown.

read entire article here @ the Smithsonian

'The World's Oldest Profession'

'The World's Oldest Profession' May Not Be What You Think

Next to prostitution, wet-nursing (being hired to breastfeed another woman’s child) is perhaps one of the world’s oldest professions for women; nearly every advanced civilization employed some version of it. There are countless examples: a Sumerian lullaby from 3000 BC makes mention of a nursemaid suckling; King Tut built a lavish tomb to honor his own wet nurse; Islamic law views two children having suckled milk from the same woman as a lifelong form of kinship equal to that of a blood relative; ancient Romans could bring their hungry infants to the Columna Lactaria for a nursing; and in the medieval kingdom of Castile, wet nurses for royal children were hired for one or two decades and became governesses after weaning.

Continue reading Huffington Post article by Jennifer Grayson

Baby Cages - 1930s Parenting

From Nine MSN Health & Wellbeing:

It's possibly wrong to judge other ages by the standards of our own, so we'll try to reserve judgement about these photos of child rearing techniques from 1930s London.

Short on space? Want baby to get fresh air and sunlight? Why not dangle them from your window in a cage! 

What could possibly go wrong?

The baby cages were at least designed with the best intentions, allowing families living in blocks of flats without gardens a way of giving their babies a taste of the great outdoors.

Obit: First IVF Mum Passes Away

From the Mail Online:

The mother of the world’s first test-tube baby has died at the age of 64.

Lesley Brown made medical history nearly 34 years ago  when she gave birth to Louise.

Mrs Brown and her husband John had been trying for a baby for nine years when they signed up to what was then an experimental procedure, in vitro fertilisation.

She became pregnant at the first attempt, and 5lb 12oz Louise Joy Brown was born by caesarean section at Oldham General Hospital at 11.47pm on July 25, 1978.

The event, which gave hope to countless infertile couples, captured the imagination of the world after it was reported exclusively by the Daily Mail under the headline The Lovely Louise.

Four years later Mrs Brown, who couldn’t become pregnant naturally because her fallopian tubes were blocked, conceived a second daughter, Natalie, by IVF.

Birdhurst Lodge - One Woman's Tale

From the Independant:

Nowadays, it seems incredible that women should have had to hide their 'shame' – a Victorian word still in common currency in the 1950s – in such forbidding institutions, austere relics of 19th-century workhouses and 18th-century penitentiaries. Even worse were the cases of unmarried mothers discovered in mental asylums in the 1970s, having been incarcerated there for decades, thanks to the post-war influence of such notorious experts as the child psychiatrist John Bowlby who condemned "the neurotic character" of the "socially unacceptable" unmarried mother.

The turnover at Birdhurst Lodge was brisk, with each woman's stay limited to three months: six weeks before the birth and six weeks afterwards. The timing was partly to give the mothers a chance to bond with their babies before deciding whether to have them adopted, but also a calculated move to let enough time elapse to make sure the babies were developmentally healthy, since adoptive couples did not want disabled children. The official stigma surrounding illegitimacy, together with queues of childless couples wanting to adopt in the days before fertility treatment, meant that the mother-and-baby homes that were widely established in Britain between the two world wars by the main churches and the Salvation Army were seen to be neatly solving two societal problems at once: they effectively operated as baby farms. And of course it made economic sense, since the adoptive parents would donate money to the religious charities running such homes.

See also: 

* Houses of Shame

* History of Christian Family Concern

Humewood House 100 Years Old

From Toronto News:

For 100 years, Humewood House has been a refuge for vulnerable young unwed mothers, who have stood on its doorstep, suitcase in hand, their hearts filled with fear of what the future held.

More than 5,000 young women — many of them mere children themselves — found a haven at the home, just north of St. Clair Ave. on Humewood St., once the home of the province’s first chancellor, William Hume Blake.

For decades, it was where “bad girls” were shut away and hidden from society until they gave birth. Many had been disowned by their families for the shame they had wrought. Most gave their babies up, never to see them again.

Those who returned home had to deal with their trauma on their own, often living lives of silent desperation, their secret never to be revealed.

Medical News: Womb Transplant

From Z News:

Infertile women may soon be able to conceive with scientists bringing womb transplant closer to reality.

After successful animal trials, doctors hope to try the transplant with a human within two years.

“This is a breakthrough, fantastic news for patients who do not have a functioning uterus and want to have children,” the Daily Express quoted Dr Cesar Diaz-Garcia, a key researcher, as saying.

“Until now no one has been able to prove pregnancy is possible after transplantation. We have overcome one of the last steps in achieving this and our aim is to get a human pregnancy using these techniques within two years,” Diaz-Garcia added.

The work has raised the prospect of creating a male pregnancy with a donor uterus and fertility treatment, however Diaz-Garcia insisted: “We are not carrying out work in this area.”

The doctor, an obstetrician who has been collaborating with researchers from the University of Valencia, Spain, predicted that in the future wombs could be harvested from people who are brain dead, living donors or even relatives to minimise the risk of rejection.

The transplanted womb would be connected to the recipient’s blood supply and would stay in place only long enough for a woman to have the children she wanted.

Any baby would have to be delivered by Caesarean section as a transplanted human womb would be unlikely to withstand natural labour.

During the C-section the womb could be removed at the same time, thereby minimising the risk of side effects from longer-term use of anti-rejection drugs.

The breakthrough is to be published in the Scandanavian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Test: Menopause Age

From IBT Health:

A soon-to-be-unveiled blood test can inform young women the exact age when menopause will turn in, thereby giving them ample time to prepare their pregnancy plans and prepare for the phase of life when they cease to be fertile.

The test works on the concept that it measures the levels of hormones produced by the ovaries. The new blood test will be unveiled at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome.

It would let women who are as young as 20 to know within few months when they would hit menopause and hence cease to be fertile. This test could be vital and valuable for women who are working and are trying to maintain a balance between their careers and their family life with having kids.

Norway: Best For Mums

From USA Today:

Which country is best for mothers and their children? Norway, according to an annual report by Save the Children. And the United States? Way down the list at No. 28, below Estonia, Latvia and Croatia.

In compiling its 11th Mothers' Index, the charity analyzed factors that affect the health and well-being of women and children, including access to health care, education and economic opportunities. That's why Norway came out on top: Women are well paid, have easy access to contraception and are entitled to generous government-mandated maternity leave.

Following Norway in the top 10 are Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Afghanistan sits at the bottom, behind Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.

Prison Baby Shower

From the Chicago Tribune:

State lawmakers will host a baby shower at the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis.

Legislators also will eat lunch prepared by some of the inmates Wednesday.

The state Department of Correction says Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, and Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, solicited gifts from other lawmakers after members of a women's caucus became interested in the Wee Ones Nursery at the prison. The gifts will be presented Wednesday.

The program for pregnant offenders began in early 2008 and is one of six similar programs in the nation. It provides parenting education and is aimed at strengthening the mother-infant bond.

To live with their newborns in the separate unit, mothers must have never been convicted of violent crimes and have less than 18 months left on their sentences.

Germany's Raven Mothers

From the New York Times:

Manuela Maier was branded a bad mother. A Rabenmutter, or raven mother, after the black bird that pushes chicks out of the nest. She was ostracized by other mothers, berated by neighbors and family, and screamed at in a local store.

Her crime? Signing up her 9-year-old son when the local primary school first offered lunch and afternoon classes last autumn — and returning to work.

Ten years into the 21st century, most schools in Germany still end at lunchtime, a tradition that dates back nearly 250 years. That has powerfully sustained the housewife/mother image of German lore and was long credited with producing well-bred, well-read burghers.

Modern Germany may be run by a woman — Chancellor Angela Merkel, routinely called the world’s most powerful female politician — but it seems no coincidence that she is childless.

Julia Baird - Victoria: Queen & Working Mother

From Newsweek:

Queen Victoria loathed being pregnant. She felt more like a pig or cow than a queen, she said, which was unfortunate, given that she had nine children. As several of her relatives had died while giving birth, she was also, quite rationally, terrified of labor. She was given chloroform for her last two births, to her great delight. Until then the use of anesthetics for women in labor had been vehemently opposed by priests on the grounds that women should suffer for original sin, and prominent doctors because they believed it aroused women's libidos. But when the respectable reigning monarch happily inhaled deep breaths from a cloth soaked with chloroform, every 10 minutes, at the birth of her son Leopold in 1853, it soon became acceptable. Oh, how she would have loved an epidural.

Julia Baird is the author of "Media Tarts: How the Australian Press Frames Female Politicians". Follow her on Twitter.

Women Sacked Over Leave

From Kirsty Needham @ Brisbane Times:

Women are being sacked for taking maternity leave, and told to quit if they can't juggle family and the work roster, the Fair Work Ombudsman's office has found.

The Ombudsman was given the power to investigate discrimination for the first time in July and is already receiving 30 complaints a week, and investigating 40 serious cases.

The Ombudsman's chief counsel, Natalie James, said she was concerned at the number of women losing their jobs for taking maternity leave.

New mothers are ''in a vulnerable position and often the last thing they want is to fight a battle with their employer''.

Professor Baird said employers need their female staff and companies ''risk very bad branding'' if word got out that they made life difficult for women taking, or refused, maternity leave.

Women & Childbirth

From The Punch:

A medical expert, Prof. Oladosu Ojengbende, has said that about 600,000 women die annually from pregnancy-related complications

Out this figure, the Head, Family Health Department of the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital, said 90 per cent of them were from the developing countries

He made these revelations at this year’s International Day of the Family held by the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja on Friday.

Every May 15 is observed worldwide as the International Day of the Family to evaluate the health of the family which is considered as the microcosm of the society.

Hilary Clinton Honoured

From the Houston Chronicle:
"Helping women’s reproductive and health rights flourish is an important part of U.S. efforts to develop democracy around the world and defeat extremism, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a speech Friday.

“A society that denies and demeans women’s rights and roles is a society that is more likely to engage in behavior that is negative, anti-democratic and leads to violence and extremism,” Clinton said at Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s national conference in Houston.

Clinton spoke to the organization after being honored for her work on behalf of women’s health and reproductive rights. She was endorsed by Planned Parenthood during her unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton said she was grateful for being given Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award — the organization’s highest honor. It is named after the group’s founder."

The Maternal Inheritance

Article by Miri Rubin in the Guardian:
"While we share in the cultural heritage that made mother the quintessence of nurture and suffering, and are moved by Michaelangelo's Pietà or Schubert's Ave Maria, much has changed.

Mothers are no longer solely imagined as inhabiting and guarding the home and its mysteries. In societies where women have access to education, citizenship and careers, mothers inhabit the same sort of spheres of culture and politics as their offspring. They face the same challenges at work and on the streets.

Mothers are no longer made mysterious by their ageless dark garb, and are no longer solely dependent on the implicit backup of the father's sternness. This new motherhood is colourful, and it is messy. Mothers sometimes pose as the Madonna or the Pietà. But most of the time they write the scripts as they go along."

Miri is also the author of "The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Middle Ages"

Yummy Mummy Syndrome

From the Sydney Morning Herald:
"The yummy mummy phenomenon inspires passionate responses, from lust and admiration to approbation and contempt. But does it help or hinder women?

It is now more acceptable for women to invest more time in themselves. Martyrdom is not as chic as it used to be. It's OK to take time out for a manicure, a spa treatment, shopping or an exercise class. All of this means that women do not necessarily lose their former selves upon having children - motherhood is no longer only about being devoted to your family.

But reports of "pregorexia" - striving to stay thin during pregnancy - remind us of the dark underbelly of these positive changes. And pregorexia is not the only alarming trend surrounding the yummy mummy phenomenon. "Mummy makeover" is the term used to denote the set of radical cosmetic surgical procedures that women increasingly undergo post-birth. Some mothers claim to find a mummy makeover liberating but both pregorexia and the mummy makeover aim to eradicate the maternal body."

Saudi Women

This is an old article - from 2003 - but I found it still quite pertinent today.

Bright Future Awaits Saudi Women" by Samar Fatany
"Young women today are more aware of their strengths and capabilities. They are no longer intimidated by the male-dominated culture that continues to marginalize their role in society. The status of women in the Kingdom is slowly changing, and women remain determined to assert their position as contributing citizens in all fields: Socially, economically and politically.

The government has provided more opportunities for women in the work force. The latest statistics show that 54 percent of university graduates are women. Employers seek these well-qualified women due to their determination and professionalism.

Saudi women are slowly learning to take advantage of the newly introduced laws, as well as existing ones. They also continue to demand the elimination of discriminatory laws governing legal guardianship, exclusion from the Shoura Council and standing for municipal elections. Women attorneys still await the right to practice law. Women hope to achieve better lives and brighter futures for their sons and daughters. They continue to challenge policies that discriminate against them and elements that resist modernization and constructive change."

But there was one paragraph that really caught my attention:
"The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has implemented new laws to protect women in the work force. Under the new labor law, pregnant women are protected from termination due to maternity leave issues. Women get 10 weeks of maternity pay — four weeks before birth and six weeks after — in addition to the one-month paid vacation allowed to all workers. Employers have to pay full pregnancy-related health expenses. Moreover, companies that employ more than 50 women are now required to have onsite nurseries, and women get an hour during the shift to breastfeed. The laws also stipulate that in the event of employers failing to follow the new regulations, labor office branches will follow up on complaints in order to ensure compliance."

Why did this take my attention - simply because here in Australia we are still arguing over whether women should be entitled to paid maternity leave - and this is 2008! The question of whether women who took maternity should be paid has been hotly debated in Parliament since 2001. Don't get me wrong - women can take maternity leave - unpaid maternity leave!

In 2007, the Australian Democrats (Australian political party) "re-introduced historic federal legislation to establish a paid maternity leave scheme that would provide all working women with 14 weeks Government-funded leave at the minimum wage on the birth or adoption of a child." (Source: Australian Democrats website).

From the ACTU website: "Paid Maternity Leave Is Long Overdue"
"Australia lags well behind the rest of the world in supporting new mothers. Over 157 nations around the world have some kind of paid maternity leave provision. The consequences of Australia not having paid maternity leave means that Australia has one of the lowest levels of workforce participation for women between the ages of 25 and 44 and is ranked 23 out of 24 OCED nations. Australia and the United States are the only two OECD countries that do not offer paid maternity leave.

The ACTU has been campaigning since 1979 to get a government funded paid maternity scheme and we firmly believe that now is the best opportunity to achieve a 14 week scheme that we can build on in the future."

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel .... There was this report from the ABC last week: "Unions Praise Woolworths' Paid Maternity Leave"
"The ACTU [Australian Council of Trade Unions] has praised supermarket chain Woolworths for its plans to introduce paid maternity leave entitlements for staff. From next month, women who have held permanent positions for at least two years will be entitled to up to eight weeks' leave at full pay.It is a similar plan to the one introduced by retailer Myer earlier this year.ACTU president Sharan Burrow says she hopes other retailers will follow suit."This is good news, good news for the women, good news for their families of course, but also good news for Woolworths and the economy more broadly, as women are more easily able to return to work knowing that they've had a period of job security," she said."


So, those of you who have it (paid maternity leave) - enjoy it! Whilst those of us who don't, will just have to keep on waiting.