ACM Philosophy for Midwifery

July 2004

Midwife means ‘with woman’. This meaning shapes midwifery’s philosophy, work and relationships.

Midwifery is founded on respect for women and on a strong belief in the value of women’s work of bearing and rearing each generation.

Midwifery considers women in pregnancy, during childbirth and early parenting to be undertaking healthy processes that are profound and precious events in each woman’s life. These events are also seen as inherently important to society as a whole.

Midwifery is emancipatory because it protects and enhances the health and social status of women, which in turn protects and enhances the health and wellbeing of society.

Midwifery is a woman centred, political, primary health care discipline founded on the relationships between women and their midwives. Midwifery:

• focuses on a woman’s health needs, her expectations and aspirations

• encompasses the needs of the woman’s baby, and includes the woman’s family, her other important relationships and community, as identified and negotiated by the woman herself

• is holistic in its approach and recognises each woman’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs, expectations and context as defined by the woman herself

• recognises every woman’s right to self-determination in attaining choice, control and continuity of care from one or more known caregivers

• recognises every woman’s responsibility to make informed decisions for herself, her baby and her family with assistance, when requested, from health professionals

• is informed by scientific evidence, by collective and individual experience and by intuition

• aims to follow each woman across the interface between institutions and the community, through pregnancy, labour and birth and the postnatal period so all women remain connected to their social support systems; the focus is on the woman, not on the institutions or the professionals involved

• includes collaboration and consultation between health professionals.

We have drawn on the work and ideas of national and international leaders in midwifery and documents/websites from organisations, including: New Zealand College of Midwives, Nursing Council of New Zealand, Nursing and Midwifery Council, UK (formerly UKCC/ENB), Royal College of Midwives, College of Midwives of British Columbia, College of Midwives of Ontario, ACMI (earlier work), Nurses Board of Victoria, Nursing Council of Queensland, the World Health Organisation, Guilliland and Pairman (1995), Leap (2004).