The institutionalization of maternology in Spain during Second Republic and the Franco period

Abstract

Since the early twentieth century it took place in Spain, a socio-educational spreading campaign, targeted to women, based on instilling that their primary mission in their lives, by their very nature, was maternity. This campaign incorporated a medical discourse, protected by a patriarchal Government, that blame women for infant mortality as a consequence of their ignorance in breeding practices. This message transmitted, through several spreading resources of the new science of maternology, pretended to convert women to real maternity professionals. Among these resources, the interest of this article is focused in the National Childcare School, considered on its evolution in the general framework of the studied period. This institution, in its triple dimension, educational, welfare and research, was fundamental agent of the development of the maternology (science of maternity) in Spain.

Keywords

• maternología
• escuela nacional de puericultura
• medicina social y educación