Plunket Society baby booklet

Cover of a Plunket Society baby record booklet, 1936. 

In developing and promoting his doctrine, Plunket Society founder Frederic Truby King (1858-1938) drew on contemporary concerns about child welfare. Ideas about motherhood, education for women, the declining birth rate and infant mortality all lent weight to King's arguments. He firmly believed that women should be trained for marriage and childrearing; he redefined ‘scientific motherhood’ as a profession, the ‘highest of callings for which a woman may qualify.’