Oxford English Dictionary, under "wife" has
 
1625 BACON Apophthegms §54 [19] Strawberrie wiues, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones
 
"A woman: formerly in general sense; in later use restricted to a woman of humble rank or ‘of low employment’ (J.), esp. one engaged in the sale of some commodity. " <copyright>
 
http://www.oed.com/
 
- Adrian, Headingley
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health research. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mary Stewart
Sent: 10 December 2004 11:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Male Midwives

Many thanks for this illuminating contribution, Elizabeth.  This also ties in with the fact that midwives originally tended the dying, as well as women giving birth: that is, they were women who were able to 'be with' those, whether men or women, at the beginning and end of life.
 
Best wishes - Mary

From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health research. on behalf of Elizabeth Duff
Sent: Fri 10/12/2004 11:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Male Midwives

Dear James

May I suggest you also consider and perhaps challenge the quite widespread
assumption that 'midwife' refers to a job/activity of being with a woman?
While there is no doubt that 'mid' means 'with' and 'wife' indicates a
woman, I have not found evidence that the 'wife' is the object of the
activity of being 'with'. On the contrary, all similar words, such as
'fishwife', 'alewife', 'housewife', etc, are occupational terms describing a
woman with a particular skill. The strong inference is that the word
'midwife' means a woman who has the skill of 'being with' - NOT a
gender-neutral person who is 'with' a woman.

This of course brings in turn the challenge that a male midwife takes on an
occupational role name that actually describes a woman, in the same way that
women in the past took on the roles of postman, milkman, policeman,
houseman, etc, before these were (mostly) changed to gender-neutral terms.

Good luck!

Elizabeth

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Harris" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "(Elizabeth Duff)" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 11:33 AM
Subject: Male Midwives


> Hi! My name is James and I am a third year DE Midwifery Student at City
> University.
>
> I am currently undertaking a literature review into the impact of male
> midwives on the profession, and would be greatful for any help or research
> pointers.
>
> I aim to write the piece from a sociological, feministic perspective,
> looking at
>
> Can a man be as with woman as a woman?
> Have male midwives changed the profession in any way?
> Why do men enter the profession?
> The Treatment of male midwives.
>
> As well as any studys you could recomend, it would be interesting to get
> your views on the subject, although this will not be included in the
> research.
>
> Can a man be as "with-woman" as a woman?
>
> Many thanks for your help in this matter.


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