Decolonising midwifery practice

Midwifery education and practice are rooted in Eurocentric culture and practices which may not reflect the diversity of women and families being cared for in maternity services. Our work around decolonising midwifery practice aims to improve awareness of these issues, therefore improving outcomes for global majority women and babies, and for students.

Decolonising midwifery practice

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is committed to addressingĀ racial inequalities in healthcare. This includes advocating forĀ decolonising practice in midwifery and supporting membersĀ in achieving this. Our recent position statement encompasses this and outlines our recommendations.

Decolonising midwifery toolkit

The Decolonising midwifery educationĀ toolkitĀ has been designed for midwifery educators and supporting stakeholders to ensure education is inclusive and addresses the diverse maternity care needs ofā€Æwomen and birthing people from the global majority. It also aims to improve the experiences of global majority students.

Decolonising midwifery education webinar

The Student Midwife Forum engaged with students from across the UK to hear their thoughts and feedback. From this webinar, it is evident that there is a need for education to reflect individuals from all backgrounds and ethnicities.

Education marks the foundation of midwifery and the SMF believe that the education system should represent and reflect the needs of all students. Inclusion, Equity and diversity are vital in the midwifery climate which this webinar aims to address. The SMF has engaged with students from across the UK to hear their thoughts and feedback, and it is evident that there is a needĀ  for education to reflect individualsĀ  from all ethnicities as it stands 94% of the midwifery curriculum isĀ centredĀ around a euro-centric model. The three aims of this webinar are to:

  • discuss the current state of midwifery education
  • discuss the challenges associated with the current midwifery education system identify some of the solutions moving forward

Chair:Ā Enitan Taiwo SMF Vice Chair

Toyin Adeyinka (Lewisham MVP Chair (Maternity voices partnership),

Chelsea Beckford-Procyk (STMW),

Natalie Goodyear

Edward Lampart

Speaker biographies

RCM podcast: Education, education, education

Every day is a school day ā€“ itā€™s a phrase that could be written for working in and around maternity. We are continuously learning, from the colleagues around us and the women in our care to the education and training that is part and parcel of midwifery and maternity support. In this episode, we look at education through different lenses and hear from students, midwives and midwifery educators about their experiences. Available on Apple and Spotify.

MIDIRS literature pack

The information specialists at MIDIRS have created a literature search, to make further study of this area easier. Other literature packs are available via the MIDIRS website.

Closing the gap

In this webinar by The Positive Birth Company, youā€™ll hear about the need to close the gap in maternal mortality in the UK, where Black and Brown women are more than three times more likely to die during pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period.

Decolonising the curriculum - University of Salford case study

The midwifery team at The University of Salford is actively engaged in working to create an inclusive, decolonised, and anti-racist curriculum to support students in their journey to becoming culturally safe, inclusive and compassionate future midwives. The team acknowledge that decolonising the curriculum is a continuous process and requires ongoing change, challenge and commitment. The first step to this was a commitment from all staff members to enhance their knowledge on social justice, culturally safe practice and the importance of decolonising the curricula; allowing for deeper comprehension of the history of racism and its effects on the current maternity system, higher education institutes and students. All staff undertake intensive maternity cultural safety and decolonising the curriculum training annually and have access to training packages such as the Union Black Training. The midwifery team has appointed EDI leads to develop a decolonising the curriculum strategy and is currently reviewing the ethnicity attainment gap.

Annual cultural safety training has been implemented within the new curriculum across all years in all courses. Supporting this training are regular restorative circles facilitated by the Professional Midwifery Advocates within the team, holding space to explore the effects of racism in maternity care, white privilege, unconscious bias and how the intersectionality of race, class, economic status and access to opportunities combine to negatively affect women and birthing people. Students have weekly access to a student collective for Black, Asian and racially minoritised students, intended to create a safe space to share lived experience and explore the effects of microaggressions and foster an increased sense of belonging.ā€ÆĀ 

The curriculum content has been diversified and the euro-centric representation of knowledge is challenged within lectures. Simulation equipment is available in darker skin tones, and scenarios are utilised to teach students the skills of trauma informed care. Throughout the programme, students will have active bystander training, so they are equipped with the necessary skills to challenge discrimination in the workplace. All case studies include the personā€™s ethnicity and chosen pronouns alongside the clinical scenario, encouraging students to consider how their identity may affect their experience of care.

To assess and evaluate this learning, summative assessments throughout the course incorporate aspects of diversity, intersectionality and the demonstration of the role of the midwife in providing holistic, culturally safe care. Assessments are co-created and reviewed by service users to ensure accurate, culturally aware representations of the communities, including creating clinical skills viva scenarios in partnership with service users. The assessment criteria for each assessment requires students to consider the principles of cultural safety and inclusivity within their work, and they are graded on their ability to do so.ā€ÆĀ 

Students complete a case study assignment which encompasses and explores the lived experience of a Black birthing person with multiple intersecting identities accessing maternity care. The assignment requires students to consider how Black and Brown peopleā€™s experiences of maternity care intersect with transgender parents experiences, requiring them to take an intersectional perspective on how midwives can provide inclusive and culturally safe care. This assessment, which followed cultural safety and inclusivity training, demonstrated no award gap.ā€Æ

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