Midwifery as an Occupation and Identity in Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife

An autobiographical account of Jennifer Worth's life as a midwife in the East End of the 1950s, Call the Midwife (2002), explores a world populated largely by women. Worth's stories of motherhood's anxiety, pain, joy, and occasionally unspeakable grief are underscored by descriptions of the tools and surgical procedures performed by the dedicated midwives of Nonnatus House. This essay reflects on the construction of the figure of the midwife through the materiality of the objects and tools of her occupation, and the performance of surgical procedures. Worth's accounts of medical procedures or the use of tools establish the individuals of her narrative as midwives first, and as women second. In the eyes of everyone: mothers, fathers, and society as a whole, the midwife is defined by her profession, from her distinctive uniform to her skillset and tools, and by her commitment to her community. Drawing on the history of midwifery, thing theory, and the broader contexts of post-World War II London, this essay analyses Worth's text in relation to questions of female identity and thing theory.