Una estrategia de supervivencia femenina

Las nodrizas sin retribución de la inclusa de Pontevedra, 187-1903

Abstract

This article studies admission practices of the Pontevedra Foundling Hospital from 1872 to 1903. Admissions were mainly through a revolving door for reasons
that are explained. In addition, the article examines a female survival strategy, which consisted of the mothers who had given away their children to the foundling hospital volunteering as unpaid foster mothers once they were weaned. By following this strategy they could recover their children without having to pay for their lactation or submit any sort of documentation. These women used the Foundling Hospital as a welfare service, ignoring its moral and charitable nature as an institution charged by law with safegarding female virtue.