Sheila Kitzinger

Sheila Helena Elizabeth Kitzinger (29 March 1929 – 11 April 2015) was a British social anthropologist, natural childbirth activist, and author on childbirth and pregnancy. With over thirty books, her work is considered influential in changing the worldwide culture surrounding childbirth. She joined the advisory board of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) in 1958 as a teacher and trainer. Kitzinger was an honorary professor at the University of West London, where she taught the MA in midwifery in the Wolfson School of Health Sciences. She also taught workshops on the social anthropology of birth and breastfeeding. She lectured widely on midwifery education in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Israel, Australia, Latin America, South Africa and Japan. Additionally, she was a consultant to the International Childbirth Education Association. Her work is considered influential in changing the culture in which women give birth From the late 1980s she was series editor for Pandora Press's Issues in Women’s Health; the books in this series included her own The Midwife Challenge, and also Gabrielle Palmer's seminal The Politics of Breastfeeding.

Kitzinger died of cancer in Oxfordshire in 2015 after a short illness. Her autobiography, A Passion for Birth: My Life: Anthropology, Family and Feminism, was published shortly after her death. She has five children; her daughter Celia Kitzinger is a scholar and activist.