Martha Ballard; previously Martha Moore, was thought to be a highly depended on midwife and healer in her town of Hallowell, Maine. She dedicated the majority of her life to serving those around her, helping care for any aches, pains, and ailments her friends and family suffered with. Her community greatly depended on her for her knowledge and abilities to manufacture remedies and early medicines. The best evidence of the practical side of Martha’s education came from the diary itself. She documented her day to day activities and thankfully left behind a view into the world of a woman living during the eighteenth century. Martha was living throughout a time of extremely dramatic change in early America. Her life happened to coincide with the
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Male domination took on greater social reality. As colonial society became more structured and organized, opportunities that had existed for women in the early period receded. In this day in age, Martha would have been simultaneously considered a midwife, nurse, physician, mortician, pharmacist, and devoted wife. She knew how to manufacture syrups, salves, teas, pills and ointments. She could efficiently treat wounds, burns, frostbite, sore throats, measles, along with an abundance of other ailments. Folk remedies were not Martha’s only medical knowledge. Her diary illuminates the ways in which rural midwives were able to gain knowledge despite having the ability to make use of scientific tools. Although Martha was respectful toward men and their work, she described a world in her diary that was sustained by women. The notion of “separate atmospheres” shaped and described the history of women. The American Revolution aided in moving women beyond their identity as housewives within the household so that they could find their place within the larger context of the world. Clearly in the eighteenth century, some activities brought women and men together while …show more content…
Women had gone from previously being invited to view and observe dissections in 1800 to being deemed incapable of even practicing midwifery just twenty years later. Allowing women to continue practicing midwifery, or any other form of independent healing, was thought to deprive male doctors of the experience they needed to be successful doctors. Although Martha’s life coincided with the time span of this idea, it had little to no effect on her practice as a midwife and healer. Her work and amount of deliveries declined after 1800 because she fell ill, not because her work was in any less of a demand. Although this idea of male dominance in the medical field had little to no effect on Martha, it possibly did have a strong effect on the younger midwives of the time. The aggressiveness of the male doctors and the power they demanded and sought after had to be a discouraging factor for young midwives in the late eighteenth-century. The nineteenth-century unraveled medicine because of the events throughout the previous century. Martha’s diary suggests how nineteenth-century conflicts may have developed through eighteenth-century gender divisions. Proceeding Martha Ballard’s death, there were still midwives practicing in Hallowell, but most eventually slipped into the role of assistants to men. This was not because doctors had more
Male domination took on greater social reality. As colonial society became more structured and organized, opportunities that had existed for women in the early period receded. In this day in age, Martha would have been simultaneously considered a midwife, nurse, physician, mortician, pharmacist, and devoted wife. She knew how to manufacture syrups, salves, teas, pills and ointments. She could efficiently treat wounds, burns, frostbite, sore throats, measles, along with an abundance of other ailments. Folk remedies were not Martha’s only medical knowledge. Her diary illuminates the ways in which rural midwives were able to gain knowledge despite having the ability to make use of scientific tools. Although Martha was respectful toward men and their work, she described a world in her diary that was sustained by women. The notion of “separate atmospheres” shaped and described the history of women. The American Revolution aided in moving women beyond their identity as housewives within the household so that they could find their place within the larger context of the world. Clearly in the eighteenth century, some activities brought women and men together while …show more content…
Women had gone from previously being invited to view and observe dissections in 1800 to being deemed incapable of even practicing midwifery just twenty years later. Allowing women to continue practicing midwifery, or any other form of independent healing, was thought to deprive male doctors of the experience they needed to be successful doctors. Although Martha’s life coincided with the time span of this idea, it had little to no effect on her practice as a midwife and healer. Her work and amount of deliveries declined after 1800 because she fell ill, not because her work was in any less of a demand. Although this idea of male dominance in the medical field had little to no effect on Martha, it possibly did have a strong effect on the younger midwives of the time. The aggressiveness of the male doctors and the power they demanded and sought after had to be a discouraging factor for young midwives in the late eighteenth-century. The nineteenth-century unraveled medicine because of the events throughout the previous century. Martha’s diary suggests how nineteenth-century conflicts may have developed through eighteenth-century gender divisions. Proceeding Martha Ballard’s death, there were still midwives practicing in Hallowell, but most eventually slipped into the role of assistants to men. This was not because doctors had more