Mobilising Mothers: The 1917 National Baby Week

Abstract

This article focuses on Britain’s 1917 National Baby Week and specifically how it played out in London. Pageantry and celebration were an important part of the event, and possibly a welcome distraction from the trials and horrors of war, and they were embraced by women of all social classes. But there was much more to it, as women who led the event seized the opportunity for political purposes, in what appeared to be an unthreatening environment of celebrating motherhood. Their goal was to promote the material wellbeing of, and state support for, women and children, and in this they were remarkably successful. Baby Week was also seized upon as an opportunity to showcase other welfare systems as a model for Britain, focusing in particular on New Zealand, with its free and comprehensive health service for infants. Rather than reflecting the eugenic and pronatalist concerns of the establishment, the event should be seen as a moment of politicisation of women arguing for cross-class social reform targeted at mothers.

Voluntariado y responsabilidad estatal: la salud en Delhi colonial

“…A éstas se añadieron la maternidad y la niñez, que se volvieron objeto de atención y de políticas gubernamentales. Se pensaba que en la infancia residía el futuro de la nación, por lo que había una urgencia por remediar las altas cifras de mortalidad y morbilidad infantiles, pero también interés por proteger a la niñez y diseñar proyectos que mejoraran su situación, muchos de ellos dirigidos a las mujeres para que aprendieran a ser mejores madres (Davin 1978;Bryder 2019). En países imperialistas como Gran Bretaña, esta preocupación por la infancia se agudizó por la necesidad de contar con una población grande y saludable que dominara sobre las colonias y evitar el riesgo que representaban países competidores como Estados Unidos o Alemania (Davin 1978, 10-11).…”

“…Por su parte, en Estados Unidos se constituyó el Children's Bureau en 1912 y en México se ideó un programa de enfermeras visitadoras que acudían a los hogares para enseñar a las mujeres cómo ser mejores madres (Agostoni 2007, 90, 97). Asimismo, en varios países del mundo se organizaron Semanas del Bebé, que incluían charlas, demostraciones prácticas de cuidados, obras de teatro, canciones, proyección de películas, elaboración de diversos materiales de propaganda y concursos del bebé más saludable (Lemus 2013;Bryder 2019).…”

3 Mothering in a carceral space

“…38 However, following a deeper exploration of the organisation and running of the event, particularly in London, Linda Bryder countered that those who led the campaign did not seek to blame mothers but, rather, crafted a carefully orchestrated event intended to harness the wartime circumstances to achieve reform of maternal and child welfare policy. 39 Some of the key figures involved in its organisation were also important figures in other areas of social reform impacting upon the lives of women, notably Adeline Russell, Duchess of Bedford, who was later to chair the 1919 enquiry in Holloway.…”

2 Maternity care in prison

“…Bryder concluded that the women who led the event seized the opportunity presented by it to promote maternal, as well as infant, interests and well-being. 46 Following their brief medical examination upon entry into prison, the health experiences of pregnant women were shaped not only by the medical officer but also by female warders, who were not medically trained, infirmary and hospital staff and even their fellow prisoners. In the early twentieth century women were generally unlikely to receive any antenatal care and would call in a midwife or a doctor only during labour.…”