Filling a gap in maternity care: The caring dilemma in doula practice

Doulas are non‐medical support persons, paid for privatively by clients, who offer emotional support during pregnancy and childbirth. While doulas work alongside clinical care providers, such as physicians, midwives, and nurses, they are unregulated and typically have no formal standing in hospitals. As with other types of care work, doula practice is shaped by gendered assumptions about women's “natural” and boundless capacity to provide care. In this paper, I draw on interviews with 26 doulas practicing in Toronto, Canada, to explore the nature of doulas' caring dilemma―the tension between an altruistic motivation to provide care and a desire for greater professional autonomy and control over working conditions among care workers. I show that doulas' self‐imposed obligation to provide a specific model of care, along with their desire to fill gaps in maternity care, results in a caring dilemma that places their own needs in opposition to those of their clients. In response to their significant caring demands, some doulas attempt to alter their work to improve their working conditions.