Health New Zealand - renamed Te Whatu Ora under the last government when it renamed all government departments in te reo Māori (Māori language) first, with English second, and which the new coalition government intends to reverse - appears allergic to using the words ‘woman/women’ whilst happily immune to using the words ‘man/men’.
those pesky women, mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers... kicking up a fuss as if they had anything to do with anything... surely there are only about 12 of them on the planet anyway...
Perhaps Te Whatu Ora is just following the lead of the NZ Midwifery Council, who have produced a Scope of Practice document that includes zero mentions of women or mothers? Reading this, I could not even figure out what midwives are supposed to do in their work and I'm a midwife. And while it's true that anyone who has a child in their care is on some variety of a "parenting journey", it is not true that this journey is going to be even vaguely similar for the woman who pushed that baby out and the baby's other parent.
Losing sight of the sexed nature of birth and breastfeeding is dangerous road to traverse. In part, because it dehumanises the relationship aspects of motherhood, which are different from being a father or any other sort of parent. Far from proving "inclusiveness", it just serves to both confuse those who may not have top notch English skills or literacy and it pretends that an adult's "identity" is more important than a baby's welfare.
Health NZ are digging a bottomless pit for themselves, as are the Midwifery Council. How do they decide where an ever-changing vernacular stops, unless they have some rules of language?
The latest nonsense includes the children’s book “In My Daddy’s Belly” about a pregnant female identifying as a male. We all know the baby is in her uterus not in her “belly” and got there from a sperm produced by a male.
There are already moves afoot overseas to rename maternity services as "perinatal" services, because the word maternity comes from the Latin root mater, which means "mother," which is clearly not inclusive enough for those few pretend men having babies.
Infuriating and saddening and bizarre at the same time. Dehumanizing women and babies by disconnecting babies from mother's.... Sick sick sick!!!
those pesky women, mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers... kicking up a fuss as if they had anything to do with anything... surely there are only about 12 of them on the planet anyway...
This says a lot about the writer who seems to be in denial of the importance and respect for
women. Just dismiss them. Don’t acknowledge them, they might then go away and there
will be no need to face and deal with these pesky creatures!
Perhaps this writer sees women as strong and overwhelming so better to avoid acknowledging
them is the solution. That puts them in their place - so they think!
Perhaps Te Whatu Ora is just following the lead of the NZ Midwifery Council, who have produced a Scope of Practice document that includes zero mentions of women or mothers? Reading this, I could not even figure out what midwives are supposed to do in their work and I'm a midwife. And while it's true that anyone who has a child in their care is on some variety of a "parenting journey", it is not true that this journey is going to be even vaguely similar for the woman who pushed that baby out and the baby's other parent.
Losing sight of the sexed nature of birth and breastfeeding is dangerous road to traverse. In part, because it dehumanises the relationship aspects of motherhood, which are different from being a father or any other sort of parent. Far from proving "inclusiveness", it just serves to both confuse those who may not have top notch English skills or literacy and it pretends that an adult's "identity" is more important than a baby's welfare.
This article talks about the hazards of additive language: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/the-problem-with-adding-more-ink and this one clearly explains why it is so important to use accurate language in maternity care: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2022.818856/full
Health NZ are digging a bottomless pit for themselves, as are the Midwifery Council. How do they decide where an ever-changing vernacular stops, unless they have some rules of language?
The latest nonsense includes the children’s book “In My Daddy’s Belly” about a pregnant female identifying as a male. We all know the baby is in her uterus not in her “belly” and got there from a sperm produced by a male.
Crikey. This is abysmal. What’s next? Will midwife become midperson?
There are already moves afoot overseas to rename maternity services as "perinatal" services, because the word maternity comes from the Latin root mater, which means "mother," which is clearly not inclusive enough for those few pretend men having babies.
Staggering that women are working to make women 'invisible' yet again!
Who needs misogynist men, when women are so good at doing this to ourselves?