Kath and Carol presented a paper at the Royal College of Nursing History of Nursing Society's annual conference on 14th November 2006 entitled 'Mother Came Too'. The themes of the conference were race, class and gender in nursing and midwifery.
The presentation was in the form of an illustrative case study of nurse recruitment and selection during the period 1948-1968.
There were a number of statements made and evidence produced from the Nurses Voices collection which led Kath and Carol to explore the question; 'Was there an unwritten code and benchmark, social, physical or educational that operated by mutual consent of everyone involved?'
The case study presented was referenced on the collection itself and the themes generated, not from extended written sources.
Through the collection they explored examples of; social expectations of women, assumptions about nurses and nursing. class and social networks and the interview process, a process that included mother attending the interview.
The paper was well received and was featured in the Nursing Standard report of the conference.
You can listen to some of the interview extracts used in the case study through the theme; 'Mother came Too' on this website