BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH WOMEN'S HEALTH: MODERN ...

egistration of births. In this way, they became some of the earliest actors in the broader national
programs of population regulation and control. Furthermore, the government’s public health
efforts also proved a good starting place for midwives’ entry into civil service. Many zhuchanshi
were recruited to serve as instructors in public health programs like the Guangzhou Public Health
Officer Training Institute of the 1930s. I will begin with an examination of the development of
the medical profession in Europe and the United States and then look deeper into the situation in
China.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONALIZATION IN THE WEST
The nursing profession in the West gradually underwent a feminization process beginning
around the turn of the twentieth century. In the 1800s, nursing was a predominantly male field,
as strong men were needed to lift and move patients, and women were not supposed to handle
men. At this time, hospitals were breeding grounds for illness and disease and were
fundamentally houses of death, where the poor and indigent went to die. Persons with means
died at home attended by private physicians and nurses. Nurses during this time were usually
members of religious groups, like Catholic sisters, who dedicated themselves to serving the poor
and the sick. However, several changes took place around the beginning of the twentieth century
that allowed for women to enter the medical profession, especially as nurses. First, secular
education for girls became more widespread, and they were encouraged to assume traditionally
“feminine” roles as caregivers and teachers. Second, modern medicine became more efficacious,
especially with the spread of germ theory, and hospitals started to become places for healing and
treatment. Finally, as the field of medicine gained more credence and began to organize and
174