The organization of the chapter follows like bookwork the order in which the title tells, and the bulk (all but one page) of the chapter deals primarily with the first two years of female nurse employment abroad. In fact the chapter leads off with the breakdown of the first group of female nurses to go abroad at the orders of the War Department of Great Britain. This group of 40 women arrived abroad in November 1854 and were in compliance with the War Department's rule that Roman Catholic Nurses "should not exceed one third of the whole number" of nurses. The rules on how many nurses of certain religions had to be strictly followed and those in charge had to keep strict eye on each fleet of nurses taken abroad, as shown in the following breakdown of the first two groups of nurses:
The first 40:
- 10 Roman Catholic Nuns of two different orders, one cloistered, one not.
- 8 "Sisters of Mercy" of the Church of England, of two different Houses.
- 6 Nurses from St. John's Institution, under Bishop of London.
- 14 Nurses actually serving in different hospitals.
- 1 Mrs. Bracebridge, who undertook the Domestic Management.
- 1 Miss Nightingale, Superintendent.
- 15 Roman Catholic Nuns.
- 9 Ladies.
- 22 Nurses.
Though these nurses provided much good care, many rules were set in place to ensure their morals not be strayed, such as, "only six women per 100 men were 'allowed' on foreign service, except in India where 12 would be 'allowed', and none in war." Yet, the chapter points out that the women found ways around, as some had come to be married while abroad to men in the regiments. This was rare, but at the discretion of the General, some nurses wed the men they nursed back to health. Because of this, the recruiting of female nurses back in England was turned to those of lesser education who would have little to offer in marriage outside their kindness and care, or to male nurses.
The chapter, more tells of the history of female nurses abroad, rather than raising any debates, but perhaps questions could be raised as to what the Britain War Department found so scandalous about marriageable nurses marrying single army personnel? As long as it were done honestly, what was the hurt in providing the comfort of marriage to those abroad during war?
I find your question about the marriages of nurses to army personnel very intriguing. I do not know very much about the Britain War Department, but in reading Marie Mulock-Craik's first chapter of "A Woman’s Thoughts about Women," I found that she believes that single women have a desire to fill the “hopeless blank of idleness” and must find – as this chapter is aptly named – “something to do” (3, 9). The reason Mulock-Craik gives for not addressing married women is that they "have generally quite enough to think of for themselves and those belonging to them" (1). Perhaps the Britain War Department shares this view and believes that one these nurses get married, most of their selflessness and service will be focused on their husbands and families, rather than their patients. Perhaps they are worried about losing part of their workforce.
ReplyDeleteI think Mollie points out a very good possibility that the British War Department may have been worried about losing some of their workforce. I think it is possible that the idea of a married woman working outside of her home was so rare that the idea of these working women marrying and then continuing to work may have been socially problematic. It could also be problematic to have a nurse worrying about her husband in battle and perhaps distracting her from properly treating some of her other patients. I also think that the idea of not marrying people you work with, or working with people you marry is still rather prevalent. Although there are many couples who happily work together many companies do have policies in place concerning workplace relationships simply for the best interest of the work environment.
ReplyDeleteThis text clearly focuses all of its attention on medical professionals (nurses), which I thought was interesting because I did not really see this focus in "Notes on Nursing." Maybe I am wrong in thinking that that "Notes on Nursing" is aimed toward parents and everyday people, or maybe these are two very different texts, which would be interesting! To address the marriage issue, I think Mollie and Alex both had good ideas explaining the concern about nurses marrying. This complicates things even more because if it was believed that nurses should not marry, then it is unlikely that Nightingale focuses "Notes on Nursing" on caring for children and family. Or maybe she is trying to inform those who do not have the nursing experience. I would like to continue looking at Nightingale and try to discern exactly who her audiences are. Thank you for sparking my interest, I look forward to looking at "Notes on Matters"!
ReplyDeleteI also thought your questions about marriage were interesting. But even today we have issues concerning marriage (Why can't homosexual couples get married? Who is it really hurting? BUT that's a completely different subject!) Mollie really brings up some good points about the loss of nurses in the workforce though.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's interesting that they had specifications about how many nurses of a particular religion could be in service. Do you know why this would be? Perhaps for the soldiers' comfort if they weren't of the specific religion? I don't know.