LEIKAR OG LÆRDAR — ljósmøðrayrkið í broyting

Abstract

In 1813 a Danish act providing compulsory training and state registration of midwives became effective in the Faroes. Nevertheless the majority of Faroese midwives were without formal training throughout the 19th cent. From the midwives' point of view, formal training and registration involved a more strict control by medical doctors and other officials, and their income was very small and regardless of their educational background until 1878, when they were guaranteed a minimum state salary, not least at the urge of the doctors, who also acted as protectors of skilled midwives. At the turn of the century, when the communications with the outer world were improving, a new generation of more selfassured Faroes midwives entered the stage who, inspired i.a. by colleagues in Denmark and a dawning trade-unionism in the Faroes began to organise and claim higher wages and recognition by virtue of their profession.