The Scientific Vision of Women

French midwife Marie Boivin is considered one of the first great modern practitioners of obstetrics and gynecology. Boivin began her studies at a nunnery in Étampes and formerly trained under accomplished midwife Marie-Louise Lachapelle at the Hôtel Dieu in Paris. Later, she and Lachapelle worked together at the Hospice de la Maternité, which replaced the Hôtel Dieu as the main training hospital for midwives. France was an outlier from the rest of Europe in its growing professionalization of midwifery. The Law of Ventôse enacted in 1803 covered both educational standards for physicians and midwives. Lachapelle and Boivin’s careers are directly tied to these French policies.

Her Memorial de l'art des accouchemens, first published in 1812, became a standard textbook of midwifery and was notable for both the number and quality of the engravings. The text covers numerous birth positions and is accompanied by her drawings illustrating techniques for difficult fetal presentations. This textbook was published in many editions and translated into several European languages. Boivin also published a work on diseases of the uterus, Traité pratique des maladies d l’uterus et de ses annexes, which was also copiously illustrated by her, and invented a two-part speculum to assist in viewing the cervix. Later in her career, Boivin directed several maternity hospitals and upon Lachapelle’s death was offered the head position at the Hospice de la Maternité. However, she turned the position down, and finished her career at the Maison royale de Santé.

Label by Lauren Reno