Inequalities and Critical Midwifery Studies Special Interest Group
The Special Interest Group on Inequalities and Critical Midwifery Studies will address systemic injustice and its impact on sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health.
Building an inclusive research network for reproductive justice
The effects of this injustice are reflected in the high maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates in former colonised countries of the Global South, and in marginalised and ethnic minoritised communities of the Global North. There is an urgent need to look at power structures and institutional discrimination, exclusion, and deprivation, and how these contribute to health inequalities.
Midwifery research is increasingly engaging with Critical Midwifery Studies, which builds its approach on critical theory, such as:
- intersectional, transnational, and postcolonial feminisms
- womanism
- critical feminist theory
- critical race theory
In addition, it also includes perspectives from:
- Black studies
- social reproduction theory
- cultural health capital theory
- queer studies
- social configuration theory
- reproductive justice theory
- decolonial and postcolonial theories
- (dis)ability studies
- anti-capitalist critique
- critical pedagogy
- care ethics
These fields have developed insights that are vital for understanding the existing and continuous reproduction of injustice within:
- sexual care
- reproductive care
- maternal care
- newborn care
Maternal mortality rates
When focusing on the UK, the crisis of Black and Brown maternal and perinatal mortality has regularly featured in national media reports. Maternal mortality rates have been found to be more than four times higher for Black women and birthing people, two times higher for mixed ethnicity women and birthing people and almost twice as high for Asian women and birthing people.
Report findings
The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audit and Confidential Enquiry UK (MBRRACE-UK) report has shown profound racial inequalities, with poorer pregnancy outcomes of maternity care for Black and Brown women and birthing people.
Similar trends have also been identified in other high-income countries such as the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, where racialised ethnic minoritised groups and Indigenous/Aboriginal people experience higher incidence of maternal and infant mortality and worse birth outcomes.
Special Interest Group activities
This research group will build a research and scholarship-friendly environment through opportunities for:
- workshops
- invited talks
- continuing professional development events for staff and students
This Special Interest Group alongside others in that were developed earlier in the Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education will tackle issues related with:
- inclusion
- disparities
- social justice
By addressing specific issues of maternal disparities, it will address a gap to discuss inequalities affecting women, birthing people, their families and children. Along with other Special Interest Groups, it will be a catalyst for the development of conceptual, theoretical and empirical-based knowledge generation, with dissemination through a range of publications, including books, book chapters, journals in addition to conferences, seminars and workshops.
The activity of the Special Interest Group will enable a strong and long-standing commitment to continuing professional development and practitioner research and a portfolio of award-bearing programmes.
The Special Interest Group's activity and its dissemination through social media will also be aimed to attract the interest of an increased number of requests by:
- external collaborators
- prospective PhD students
- NHS partners
- NHS Trusts
- charities working in this field
The Special Interest Group will be the starting point to develop an international network that will engage with systemic injustice and critical midwifery studies.
About the research group leader
The Special Interest Group will be led by Dr Melania Calestani, a Senior Lecturer and Department Lead for Research in the Department of Midwifery. Melania is a medical anthropologist with postdoctoral experience in health services research and social sciences.
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