Rebecca Jane Davies

PhD Thesis Title; - Health, Work and Motherhood in Post-War South Wales: Exploring the Impact of the Creation of the NHS, 1945-1975, in an Oral History and Life-Writing Case Study.

This research examines the impact of the creation of the National Health Service on women's experiences in the early post-war decades, a time of significant change and modernisation in virtually every arena,  so that women might expect to lead very different lives to those of their mothers and grandmothers.  

The methodology being used is integral to the project, accessing the patient’s voice, women’s voices, first-hand through recording interviews and holding writing workshops. Through the prism of motherhood and family life, the research considers how far the traditional narrative that women were key beneficiaries of the new health service, reflects lived experience in the historic county of Glamorgan, an area that remained in many ways a ‘traditional’ society.  The research focusses on two key areas of health; reproductive health, as a uniquely female process, and the ‘everyday’ health concerns of wives and mothers, specifically  stress, age-related issues, and responsibilities for family health and welfare.