Women Missionaries and the Marginalization of Dais in India, 1872-1932

Bibliographic Data

ID2309599
AuthorsOlusola Bamidele Ojo (0000-0002-9705-9724, Department of Community Medicine, Health Care Agency, Ministry of Health, Victoria, Seychelles, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume61
Issue2
Pages1574-1584
Publication date2025-02-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00219096251318253
OpenAlexW4407893825
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited27

The traditional birth attendants called Dais occupied a significant role in the birthing space of India since antiquity. This article examines the influence of women missionaries on the social roles of Dais in the colonial era. The thesis argues that women missionaries played a significant role in the marginalization of Dais from the late-19th to early 20th-century India. The study discovered that missionaries deploy the rhetoric of poor hygiene to castigate their social roles. Focusing on women missionaries and Dais affords us a rare privilege to gauge the intricate interplay between medicine and gender in colonial medicine

African studies · Ancient history · Geography · Political science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Indian Economic and Social Development · Indian History and Philosophy · Social and Economic Development in India

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