Why were the midwife's skills thought to be magical during the Middle Ages? Most midwives were women, and because women were often illiterate because they could not attend school, people thought they had too much "mysterious" knowledge to be trusted to help deliver babies. They were able to do things no trained physician could and because they were often seen in the company of witches. They were very experienced at sleight-of-hand tricks. They could accurately predict whether the baby was a boy or girl.