Pregnant Bodies, Professional Selves: Motherhood, Power, and Embodiment in Obstetrics and Gynecology Training and Practice

Obstetrics and gynecology (O&G) deals directly with pregnancy, yet specialists who become pregnant experience professional disruption. This research analyzes narratives from O&G training to explore how institutional norms, parental status, and gendered expectations shape professional identity. The analysis reveals deep tensions between masculinized models of professionalism and reproductive labor, highlighting structural hierarchies among women and clear male advantages. Using frameworks like the “three bodies” concept from medical anthropology, the article argues that pregnancy exposes critical contradictions in medical culture. Despite changing demographics, pregnancy still marks female bodies as deviant, adding valuable new insights into power and moral regulation in modern medicine.