Barbara Katz Rothman

Barbara Katz Rothman is an American sociologist and feminist scholar whose work examines childbirth, reproductive technologies, and the medicalization of women’s bodies. She is known for influential studies of pregnancy and birth in modern health-care systems, focusing on how professional authority, risk management, and institutional routines shape women’s experiences. Rothman’s writing brings together sociology, ethics, and feminist theory to question assumptions about “normal” birth and to highlight the social meanings attached to reproduction. Her books include *In Labor: Women and Power in the Birthplace* and *Recreating Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchal Society*, widely cited in debates about maternity care and reproductive politics.