Anthropologist's studies of childbirth bring new focus on women in... ( Contrary to the TV sitcom where the ...)

Anthropologist's studies of childbirth bring new focus on women in evolution

Date:2/17/2009

Contrary to the TV sitcom where the wife experiencing strong labor pains screams at her husband to stay away from her, women rarely give birth alone. There are typically doctors, nurses and husbands in hospital delivery rooms, and sometimes even other relatives and friends. Midwives often are called on to help with births at home.

Assisted birth has likely been around for millennia, possibly dating as far back as 5 million years ago when our ancestors first began walking upright, according to University of Delaware paleoanthropologist Karen Rosenberg.

She says that social assistance during childbirth is just one aspect of our evolutionary heritage that makes us distinctive as humans.

Rosenberg, who is a professor and chairperson of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Delaware, presented a talk on natural selection and childbirth on Feb. 13 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago. It was part of the symposium "The Invisible Woman in Evolution: Natural Cycle and Life-Cycle Events," which Rosenberg co-organized.

The meeting's theme, "Our Planet and Its Life: Origins and Futures," commemorated the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

"Humans need helpers in childbirth because it is difficult and potentially dangerous," Rosenberg says. "While it's not so risky today -- maternal mortality is low -- as recently as two generations ago, it was not uncommon to hear of women dying in childbirth."

Through fossil records and comparisons of humans with other primates, Rosenberg says that anthropologists can now show how the uniquely human traits of bipedalism, large brains, infant helplessness and social assistance all came together, resulting in the challenging and somewhat dangerous manner in which humans give birth.

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Contact: Tracey Bryant
tbryant@udel.edu
302-831-8185
University of Delaware
Source:Eurekalert

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