Les mutations professionnelles comme soutien de la présence des hommes dans la profession de sage-femme

Abstract

The minority presence of men in professional spaces called feminine is rather unusual and little studied. The case of male midwives seems to offer a fertile terrain, on the one hand because the latter represent no more than 2% of the profession and, on the other hand, because of the assigning of this activity to the female gender : the denomination intimately associates the activity with women and the activity seems to have been exercised by women for time immemorial. Are these men liable to call professionnal practices into question, and notably those intended for parturients ? Are they bringing about an evolution in the empathy of relationships ? Are they transgressing the internal divisions of this professional group, precisely as to the distribution of mo­des of activity ? Or, further, might they make the professionals’ relationship to independence and autonomy in the exercise of the activity evolve ? As it happens, the transgressions committed by these men seem to be rather limited. They are hardly lin­ked to their presence, which is admitted by most midwives. These men are accompanying the transformations the profession is undergoing, notably those seeking better professional recognition, as much material as symbolic. Thus ongoing professional transformations bolster the permanence of their presence in this professional space.

Keywords

• midwife
• profession
• male midwives
• professional transformations
• sociology