The 'linguistic abomination' of the NZ Midwifery Council's revised Scope of Practice.

If you’ve been like me, and knew there was something ‘off’ about woke-speak which goes even deeper than the fact it’s confusing, misleading, and creates a cover for duplicitous behaviour, Sarah Henderson will spell it out for you in this chat we have in the YouTube video below.

It’s a long-ish chat, because Sarah’s got a mountain of knowledge about language and linguistics from both a passionate interest, and at least a decade of studying these. It’s quite mind-blowing, if you haven’t really been aware before of just how sinister it’s possible for woke-speak to be.

Central to this chat, is the New Zealand Midwifery Council’s revised Scope of Practice, which Sarah and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to apply the description ‘a linguistic abomination’ to. Amongst several issues with it, the Midwifery Council decided it was also a good idea to remove the words ‘mother’ and ‘baby’ from their Scope of Practice. Sarah writes in-depth about it here, for those who want some detailed background.

Strangely, the Midwifery Council got some pushback about that, which included a Parliamentary petition created by midwife, Deb Hayes. The petition gained nearly 7,500 signatures, which is very sizeable for New Zealand, and vastly more signatures than most Parliamentary petitions get. In response, the Council slapped what I can only describe as a band-aid on the Scope, and re-issued it. However, it remains unacceptable.

James Meager, who is the Member of Parliament for Deb’s electorate of Rangitata, which covers mid and south Canterbury, has agreed to present the petition to Parliament. Deb and supporters, of whom yours truly is amongst, will present this to James on the steps of Parliament Building in Wellington on Tuesday 9^th April at 1pm. James Meager will then present the petition to Parliament at 2pm. All supporters are welcome to join us.

During the last 30 minutes of the below video, Sarah talks specifically about the gravity of the Scope of Practice, and how it impacts midwives. The last ten minutes gives details of the petition presentation to James Meager.

The 'linguistic abomination' of the NZ Midwifery Council's revised Scope of Practice.

Below is the first revised Scope of Practice from the NZ Midwifery Council, with the te reo Māori (Māori language) and English language versions side by side. Even though there is a te reo Māori version of the Scope, the English language version is still littered with Māori words. Sarah has something quite profound to say about this. Notably, there are Māori who are not at all happy with how te reo Māori has been used in the Scope.

Here is the second revised Scope of Practice. It’s only the English language version, as the Midwifery Council has now concealed the te reo Māori version.