Work

Public virtue, private ambition: Women owners of private hospitals in early twentieth‐century New Zealand

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: New Zealand's early‐twentieth‐century health service was a two‐tier system of state hospitals supported by an expanding network of over 300 private hospitals, almost exclusively owned by nurses and midwives. This article will show that this environment was created by a legislative framework introduced between 1901 and 1906, requiring nurses, midwives, and their private hospitals to be registered, licensed, and monitored. Stringent regulation could have stifled the industry. Instead, it provided fertile ground on which many women flourished as enterprising businesswomen who made significant contributions to their communities, breaking with traditional notions of nurses solely as carers and handmaidens to doctors.

Source: Asia‐Pacific Economic History Review

DOI: 10.1111/aehr.70032

Author: Ann‐Marie Quinn

Institutions: Auckland University of Technology, Massey University

Language: English

Topic: Medical History and Innovations

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,900

Funder: Massey University