Midwives: between campaigning and commitment

Over history, midwives have played a fundamental role in caring for women during the most meaningful moments in their lives: pregnancy, childbirth and maternity. This vital role has been and continues to be led by women. They have been the guardians of women's health, offering care and support at such significant moments.

And yet this contribution by midwives has often been eclipsed by unequal gender relations, which have tried to push them into the shadows, and undermine their professional status. Today, fortunately, no one questions that their presence is essential in modern medicine. Thanks to their resolve and professionalism, they have now established their own place in the professional teams dealing with women's sexual and reproductive health.

Other challenges faced by the profession today come courtesy of health systems stressed by social, demographic, technological and scientific changes. Combined with the context of scant resources and inadequate funding of public health services. According to the figures held by the trade union Satse, in 2021 the Basque Country had 371 midwives to handle a population of 1,130,089 women: a figure which is clearly inadequate to deal with half the Basque population.

This has led to a public campaign to increase the number of midwives employed at hospitals and health centres. Investing in midwives means improving the holistic health of women and families, within a context in which addressing their social, sexual and gender rights remains a matter of urgency.

Film:Midwives