Backlash mounts against call for word midwife to be banned by NHS to stay inclusive for transgender patients - while academics even want Royal College of Midwives to change name
Womens rights campaigners have hit back at a proposal that the NHS stops using the word midwife because it is not inclusive for transgender patients.
Womens rights campaigners have hit back at a proposal that the NHS stops using the word midwife because it is not inclusive for transgender patients.
A new research paper claims the word midwife upholds the patriarchy and its use subordinates all who give birth.
The co-authors argue the term lead perinatal practitioner should be used instead to be more inclusive of transgender mothers - and even the Royal College of Midwives should consider changing its name to Royal College of Lead Perinatal Practitioners.
But the paper - which is considered by its creators as a blueprint for the role to become more gender-neutral - has come under fire by campaigners who claim it amounts to the further erasure of the word "woman".
Others, including a former midwife, have labelled the suggestion as gobbledygook and ideological nonsense.
The research, titled From Midwife To Lead Perinatal Practitioner: A Utopian Vision, refers to a birthing person or pregnant body instead of a woman and argues a name change is needed as trans and non-binary people increasingly require access to midwifery services.
It adds: The presence of gender-diverse people accessing "maternity" services disrupts such norms, because it forces us to confront how words like "midwife," "midwifery," and "maternity" are excluding, for example, of trans and non-binary people.
A move away from the title of "Midwife" to "Lead Perinatal Practitioner" would be trailblazing in reducing inequalities through the deconstruction of harmful patriarchal constructs and decolonisation.
Womens rights campaigners have hit back at a proposal that the NHS stops using the word midwife because it is not inclusive for transgender patients (file pic)
Dr John Peddleton, a senior lecturer in midwifery from the University of Northampton, and Dr Sally Pezaro, an academic midwife from Coventry University, have set out their new Utopian vision in a new research paper
One critic, referring to the popular BBC drama Call The Midwife, said: Call the lead perinatal practitioner did not have quite the same resonance
Written by Dr John Peddleton, a senior lecturer in midwifery from the University of Northampton, and Dr Sally Pezaro, an academic midwife from Coventry University, the paper adds that it has set out a proposal for a new Utopian vision.
It explains: We can envision this by imagining for example the Royal College of Midwives becoming the Royal College of Lead Perinatal Practitioners, or the ICM becoming the International Confederation of Lead Perinatal Practitioners.
But campaigners say the banning of the word midwife had vast implications for women.
Kellie-Jay Keen, who runs the group Let Women Speak, told MailOnline: This is just further erasure of the word woman.
When you erase a word, you can do it in a couple of ways. One way is to make it cease to mean the significant thing that it means - so in this case, it would cease to mean an actual woman.
Midwife is a very old word, and its a very lovely word. Most women who become mothers will know that we really do place our lives and the lives of our babies in these womens hands.
You can also erase it by making lots of things mean the word woman, which is a really effective way of making the word meaningless.
So it means everything and yet you cant use it for the thing that it really means, which is an adult human female.
Campaigners say the banning of the word midwife by the NHS could be seen as a further step in the erasure of women
Campaigners also pointed out other examples of erasing women-type language, where medical professionals now use terms such as birthing person or chest feeding (file pic)
Ms Keen cited other examples of erasing women-type language, where medical professionals now use terms such as birthing person or chest feeding.
Cervix-haver is another one, adds Ms Keen. And yet when we talk about prostate cancer or testicular cancer, it is addressed to men.
So we know that its specific about the word woman. The activists want to erase that word.
Anna Melamed, midwifery lecturer at the University of the West of England, said the term midwife was clearly recognised as a profession that proudly supports women.
She said: It is women as a sex category who are pregnant and give birth, regardless of how they identify... Midwives are one of the few professions who proudly and clearly stand by and on the side of the woman.
Meanwhile Helen Joyce, of human rights charity Sex Matters, added: Maternity services are under enough pressure without ideological nonsense being foisted on them.
Social media users also voiced their views on banning the word.
One referring to the popular BBC drama Call The Midwife said: "Call the lead perinatal practitioner!" Doesnt have quite the same resonance...
Social media users have been voicing their views on banning the word midwife
Another wrote: I used to be a Midwife. I looked after mothers and babies. I was certainly not a lead perinatal practitioner.
What a load of gobbledegook. Perhaps theyll think of a new name for a baby - "genesis of natal being"?
A third questioned the argument made by the research authors: How are mothers subordinated by being recognised as mothers?
Why would a job title whose derivation is simply with woman (and can apply to qualified professionals of either sex) subordinate the woman concerned?
Dr Pezaro declined to comment and Dr Pendleton did not respond to a request for comment.
MailOnline has also reached out to the Royal College of Midwives for comment.