Gender Inclusive language for Midwives in a Hospital First

Gender Inclusive language for Midwives in a Hospital First

Gender Inclusive language for Midwives in a Hospital First Credit: Pixabay

GENDER INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE for Midwives in a Hospital first as the term “mother” is replaced with “mothers or birthing parents”, and other terms are being replaced too.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust have implemented a new gender inclusive language policy and is the first trust in the country to do so for their maternity services. The new terminology aims to be inclusive and reflect all service users.

The BSUH Maternity services took to Twitter and explained that, “We want everybody who uses our services to see themselves reflected in the language that we use. This means not only pregnant women, but also pregnant trans, non-binary and agender people.

“Our chosen approach to inclusive language is additive rather than neutral.”

The new terminology will mean that phrases such as “mothers or birthing parents”, “maternal and parental”, “breast/chestfeeding”, “human milk”, “breast/chestmilk” and “milk from the feeding mother or parent” will become the new norm in the maternity setting.

The trust has explained that, “Gender identity can be a source of oppression and health inequality. We are consciously using the words ‘women’ and ‘people’ together to make it clear that we are committed to working on addressing health inequalities for all those who use our services.

“As midwives and birth workers, we focus on improving access and health outcomes for marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

“Women are frequently disadvantaged in healthcare, as are trans and non-binary people… By continuing to use the term ‘woman’ we commit to working on addressing health inequalities for all who use our services.

“We also recognise that there is currently biological essentialism and transphobia present within elements of mainstream birth narratives and discourse.

The trust aims to improve the emotional well-being of service users with the new changes in wording.


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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