Midwifery as the first official profession of women in Russia, 18th to early 20th centuries

The authors study the institutionalization of midwife specialization among women in Russia in the period from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. The main sources are legislative acts, clerical documents, as well as reports on the activities of medical institutions and maternity departments. The authors use the approaches of gender history, and the concept of professionalization as developed by E. Freidson. Midwifery was the first area of womens work that was officially recognized by the state. There were three main stages on the way to professionalizing the midwifery profession among women. The first stage (covering the 18th century) is associated with attempts to study and systematize the activities of midwives. The practical experience of midwifes was actively sought by doctors whose theoretical knowledge was limited. The second stage of professionalization (corresponding to the first half of the 19th century) was associated with the normative regulation of midwife work and the formation of a professional hierarchy in midwifery. The third stage (comprising the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century) saw a restriction of the midwives spheres of activity, as well as the active inclusion of male doctors in practical obstetrics and their rise to a dominant position. With the development of obstetric specialization, operative obstetrics, and the opening of maternity wards, midwives were relegated to a subordinate position in relation to doctors. In contrast to the United States and Western European countries, Russia did not have professional associations of midwives. Intra-professional communication was weak, and there was no corporate solidarity. In Soviet medicine, finally, the midwives subordinate place in relation to doctors was only cemented.

Blind Spots in Post-1989 Czech Historiography of State Socialism: Gender as a Category of Analysis

Gender is rarely considered in the works on state socialism in Czech history writing. Given the prominence of the equality of the sexes in communist rhetoric and the heated anti- and pro-feminism media and intellectual debates of the 1990s, the omission stands out as a remarkable loss of opportunity in historical research. It also defies logic. For if “emancipation” and “equality” were so strongly present in pre-1989 discourse and women constituted half the population, does it not follow that the plain demographic fact should drive the interest of researchers to inquire where this population was, what it did, and what it had to say? The question has so far attracted primarily sociologists, but how does it fare in historiography? What are the losses of the absence and the gains of the inclusion of a gender perspective on the history and memory-making of state socialism? This article will first consider the status quo of gender blindness in Czech historiography and its possible reasons in the context of the legacy that state socialism left to social sciences and humanities: the legacy of expertise, disciplinary legitimation and epistemological legacy. A discussion of the consequences of the near absence of gender history and analysis from post-1989 interpretations of state socialism in historiography follows: blind spots and loss of knowledge, lack of precision and a gender bias of historical accounts, and perpetuation of false legacy. Finally, the article discusses the gains to Czech historiography, memory-making and international discussion, if scholars do consider gender.

History and/as Science: Rereading Paul Lacombe

Forgotten during several years and rediscovered by historians of the Annales in the 1930s, Paul Lacombe’s De l’histoire considérée comme science (1894) is now quoted in such books as Antoine Prost’s Douze leçons sur l’histoire and the Sage Handbook of Historical Theory. Lacombe’s work is important from an historical standpoint. Against the focus on single events that prevailed in the late nineteenth century, Lacombe defined scientific history as the identifications of regularities for the purpose of articulating laws. Against the empirical approach practiced during that same period, he also stressed the importance of the hypothesis – of the assumptions that made the selection of the facts possible. Finally, connected to several militant women of the time, Lacombe, sought to do what we would now call “gender history,” that is, to study the distribution of gender roles during specific periods. While anticipating several developments in the theory of history, Lacombe was yet a man of his time. He thus did not foresee that his (and his contemporaries’) contrast between observation-based and document-based science would later be challenged, some philosophers now arguing that chemists and physicists are not more able than historians to “observe” the phenomena that they describe.

Lithuanian Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania through the Prism of Gender Analysis

The article examines legislation of the early modern period, namely Lithuanian Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania through the prism of gender analysis. The term “gender” is used not in the biological sense but as a system of interpersonal interactions, that is as a social construct which makes the basis for the stratification of society by gender. Gender is considered one of the three (along with race and class) most important elements which form synergetic systems of domination and subordination. Therefore, legislation of the 16th–17th centuries is considered in relation to equality of rights and possibilities for different sexes. Given the fact that the problem of relationships between a man and a woman lies in the plane of gender history, it should be studied by using gender history methods.The first (1529) and the second (1566) editions of the Lithuanian Statute are the subject matter of gender examination in this article. The third edition (1588) is not considered since Ukrainian lands became part of the Commonwealth as a result of the Union of Lublin (1569). Hence, the Statute of 1588 did not apply to those territories, whilst the Statute of 1566 continued to be in force there. The article analyses regulations of those parts of the Statute which formed foundations of social institutions and first of all that of the family and therefore directly affected gender relations.Having analysed legal regulations of the Lithuanian Statute, the author argues that legislation of the early modern period was based on gender norms and gender identities, ensured preferential attitude towards men and denied equal rights and opportunities for women. Thus, already at the legislative level regulations of the Lithuanian Statute laid conditions for gender asymmetry. That resulted in discrimination against women and dominance of men.

Identifying Risk Factors That Increase Analgesic Requirements at Discharge Among Patients With Burn Injuries

Patients with burn injuries require large doses of opioids and gabapentinoids to achieve pain control and are often discharged from hospital with similar amounts. This study aimed to identify patient risk factors that increase analgesic requirements among patients with burn injuries and to determine the relationship between opioid and gabapentinoid use. Patient charts from July 1, 2015 to 2018 were reviewed retrospectively to determine analgesic requirements 24 hours before discharge. Linear mixed regression models were performed to determine patient risk factors (age, gender, history of substance misuse, TBSA of burn, length of stay in hospital, history of psychiatric illness, or surgical treatment) that may increase analgesic requirements. This study found that patients with a history of substance misuse (P = .01) or who were managed surgically (P = .01) required higher doses of opioids at discharge. Similarly, patients who had undergone surgical debridement required more gabapentinoids (P < .001). For every percent increase in TBSA, patients also required 14 mg more gabapentinoids (P = .01). In contrast, older patients (P = .006) and those with a longer hospital stay (P = .009) required fewer amounts of gabapentinoids before discharge. By characterizing factors that increase analgesic requirements at discharge, burn care providers may have a stronger understanding of which patients are at greater risk of developing chronic opioid or gabapentinoid misuse. The quantity and duration of analgesics prescribed at discharge may then be tailored according to these patient specific risk factors.

PUNISHMENT FOR VOLKSDEICHE: THE FATE OF GERMAN WOMEN OF UKRAINE

The purpose of the work. The article is devoted to the fate of Volksdeutsche women after the end of the Second World War. The focus is on the history of women in southern Ukraine, a region of Ukraine where a large part of the German population is under occupation. The historiography of the problem covers works that cover the issue of gender history in the context of the topic: Larysa Belkovets, Lyudmila Burgart, Andriy Kotlyarchuk, Maya Lutai, Olena Styazhkina and others. The sources of the study were the NKVD investigative cases against women who accepted German citizenship, eyewitness accounts, and statistics. Results and scientific novelty of the study. The circumstances and reasons why women chose the status of Volksdeutsche have been clarified. In particular, the study found that this was not always a voluntary or conscious choice: women in difficult life situations chose a survival strategy that they thought could be successful. Volksdeutsche status did not guarantee a happy life, adequate nutrition or normal living conditions for the woman and her family. He was entitled to minimal assistance, but imposed many responsibilities on the Volksdeutsche, forcing them to accept Nazi crimes against civilians and send their children to Hitler's or the German Girls' Union, where they were raised in the spirit of Nazi ideology. German women seldom took an active part in collaborationism: they seldom worked as translators, teachers for Volksdeutsche and Ukrainian schools that did not last long in the occupied territories. In the south of Ukraine, the Volksdeutsche also included ethnic Swedes – residents of the Swedish colony Staroshvedske. For the Germans of southern Ukraine in the status of Volksdeutsche, the war ended first with the forced evacuation to Germany by the Germans, and then by the forced repatriation of Soviet troops home. As a result, Volksdeutsche women were tried on charges of treason and aiding the Nazis. Women made up the majority of special settlers in Siberia, the Urals, and Kazakhstan. However, many Germans managed to avoid repatriation and remain in European countries forever without Soviet influence.Key words: local history, gender history, Volksdeutsche, World War II, NKVD. Мета роботи. Стаття присвячена долі жінок-фольксдойче після завершення Другої світової війни. В центрі уваги історії жінок Південної України, регіону України, на території якого значна частина німецького населення опинилась в окупації. Історіографія проблеми охоплює роботи, в яких висвітлюється питання гендерної історії в розрізі теми: Лариси Белковець, Людмили Бургарт, Андрія Котлярчука, Майї Лутай, Олени Стяжкіної та інших. Джерелами дослідження стали слідчі справи НКВС щодо жінок, котрі прийняли німецьке підданство, спогади очевидців, статистичні матеріали. Результати та наукова новизна дослідження. З’ясовані обставини та причини, чому жінки обирали статус фольксдойче. Зокрема в процесі дослідження з’ясовано, що це не завжди був добровільний чи усвідомлений вибір: жінки, що опинялись в складних життєвих ситуаціях, обирали стратегію виживання, яка на їхню думку могла стати успішною. Статус фольксдойче не гарантував щасливого життя, достатнього харчування чи нормальних умов проживання для жінки та її сім’ї. Він давав право на мінімальну допомогу, проте накладав на фольксдойче чимало обов’язків, змушував примирюватися із злочинами нацистів по відношенню до мирного населення та віддавати дітей в гітлерюнг чи до Союзу німецьких дівчат, де їх виховували у дусі нацистської ідеології. Німецькі жінки рідко брали активну участь у колабораціонізмі: вони зрідка працювали перекла-дачками, вчительками для фольксдойче та українських шкіл, що недовго існували на окупованій території. На Півдні України до фольксдойче зараховували також етнічних шведів – мешканців шведської колонії Старошведське. Для німців Півдня України в статусі фольксдойче війна завершилася спочатку примусовою евакуацією в Німеччину німцями, а потім примусо-вою репатріацією радянськими військами додому. В результаті на жінок-фольксдойче чекали суди із звинуваченнями у зраді та пособництві фашистам. Жінки становили більшість спецпоселенців в Сибіру, на Уралі та в Казахстані. Проте багатьом німкеням вдалось уникнути репатріації і назавжди залишитись у країнах Європи поза радянським впливом.Ключові слова: локальна історія, гендерна історія, фольксдойче, Друга світова війна, НКВС.