西方中世纪早期助产士与中国旧时稳婆的比较

The Comparative Study of Western Early Midwives and Wenpo(Midwives) in Ancient China

自有人类开始,繁衍后代就成了女性的天然使命,也就逐渐衍生出帮助女性顺利分娩的特殊人群。不论在西方还是在中国,在历史上很长一段时期,这个行业是女性占据主导地位,二者在名称上有着很大的不同。二者相同的是,参与助产的人员大多是家庭中的有经验的女性或专门从事助产工作的助产士(或稳婆),大多也都来自生活困难的社会下层。由于各自的文化背景和科学发展的路径不同,以及男医的介入,西方社会逐渐衍生出具备新法接生技术的助产人员,而我国的稳婆最终为西式助产所取代。

Since human beings appeared, reproduction has become a natural mission of women. It gradually derived the special groups to help the pregnant to easy delivery. In a long period of history, in the Western countries and China, the midwifery industry was dominated by women, while who were named in a big difference between each other. It was in common that midwifery staff were mostly experienced women of the family or specialized in the work of midwifery, most of whom were from the bottom classes, and had financial difficulties. Later, because of their different cultural backgrounds and the path of scientific development, as well as the emergence of male midwives, the Western countries gradually developed the midwifery with new method, while the Chinese Wenpo （midwives） were replaced by the Western midwifery in the end.