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

Two female midwifery students, one of them is laying on a medical bed whilst the other is pressing on her stomach. — Kingston University midwifery student

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.