A Voice for Mothers

Overview

Covering the history of the Plunket Society from 1907 to the present day, this book is organized around three dominant themes that contribute both to international historiography and to the social history of New Zealand. These themes are the mixed economy of welfare, maternal and infant health, and motherhood and parenting. Discussed in detail is how these three strands form an important contribution to New Zealand’s social history. In particular, the public role of women as welfare providers, maternal and child health provision, and parenting roles and practices are examined. An in-depth study of the voluntary welfare system, this book will be of interest to welfare historians, women’s studies historians, social historians of medicine, and government policy makers.

Author Biography

Linda Bryder is a professor of history at the University of Auckland. She is the author of Below the Magic Mountain: The Social History of Tuberculosis in Twentieth-Century Britain and A Healthy Country: Essays on the Social History of Medicine in New Zealand. She is on the editorial board of a number of international health and history journals including Hygeia Internationalis and is a council member of the New Zealand Historical Association.