The Ideological and Technological Shaping of Motherhood

Abstract

Women's medical care, especially the care of birthing women, is increasingly based on technological innovations. While the use of electronic fetal monitoring, in vitro fertilization and cesarean section have benefited some women, the expanding use of medical technology distances women and their physicians. The problem is compounded because the application of medical technology is often clouded by a gender based ideology that defines women as mere reproductive beings. Forgotten is the recognition that the "facts" and interpretations generated by medical advance are subject to the same ideological bias as traditional beliefs and understandings about women. Forgotten is the woman, the person, in the body. By seeing, hearing, touching and talking with women, physicians, not technological feats, provide a foundation for women's health based on the mutual interaction, understanding and respect between women and their physicians.