'Male midwives are bad' seems to be the phrase here.
But barely a comment about gynacologists.
My experience with a male midwife was that he was extremely woman centred. To the point that he went across the grain with it. I do think he was able to get things pushed through that a woman in the same position wouldn't have been able to - because sexism. And I think this has massively benefitted women in the long run.
He had become a consultant midwife by this point and as such wasn't practicing as much and was much more in a management role.
I am very grateful to him and the disabled midwife who effectively were my advocates against 'the system'.
He left before I had DS (I was having an ELCS by choice so he was never going to deliver my baby).
So I actually think that woman having ago about the phenomen of others saying male midwives being brilliant, are missing a factor in why they might be thought of as that - and not because they are doing the same as female midwives. For me it was precisely because he was male, that I think he was listened to by 'Higher Ups' and was needed because of the sheer degree of institutional sexism.
Thats not right - female midwives should absoluetely be able to do the same. The reality was - for all the reasons by women often don't get senior management roles - that he was able to work all these longer hours, have the career, not worry about childcare etc etc.
And yeah, I don't think we will see calls for the banning of male gynocologyists either.
On the flip side of this, my SIL is a doctor. When she was still training and hadn't decided on the speciality she wanted to do, she was frustrated by the pressure that was present to get as many of her fellow female colleagues to go into 'female health' and she very much felt this way almost restrictive and a sexist attitude in its own right because it was almost 'that was where women belonged'.
The problem goes back to institutional level sexism and a disregard for women and women's health and needs being second class and services for women being a cinderella service which isn't thought of as being an area of prestige.
The worst bit is, that in doing this, it sets up women for poorer health throughout life and that has massive impact on society as a whole. And this has a ripple effect through economics too.
I am not unaware of the irony of why my male midwife was brilliant. It was precisely because of sexism and him being a male worked for me precisely because it meant he was able to navigate that sexism for the benefit of women. I think things would be a hell of a lot worse for a lot of women but for having a male in this role. Its frustrating as hell, and doesn't stop the sexism, but it has moved things forward from the position it was before in some ways although I think the NHS is also rolling back in other ways in terms of women's care.
He went on to work for Birth Rights who I very much think do essential work in this area of advocating for improvements in centring women and upholding their rights in maternity. He didn't have to do this. It was a role on top of practising. And again of course, the reason he probably had time to do that, was because he was a bloke.
What is important is that women have the right to refuse a male midwife - in a tangible way - as in they aren't put in a position where a male is the only person available and they have to suck it up. And that they are subject to greater safeguarding checks generally. Unfortunately in the context of covid staff shortages and midwife shortages generally, thats not happening - and I think thats ultimately where the problem starts to creep in, because 'any midwife is better than no midwife' essentially becomes the mantra and the reality for Trusts. And that also provides and environment where it is much easier for abusers to fly under the radar and get away with unacceptable behaviour because hospitals don't want to have to acknowledge a problem, if that means they are down on staff as a result. Thats about patients effectively being an inconvenience and staff being more important than patients - we've almost slept walked into a situation where its staff centred care rather than patient centred care.
We know generally that women have poorer outcomes with various male HCPs. And the reverse isn't true for men. So its not an issue just restricted to midwives by any means. Naturally there will exceptions to this - on a personal level its a woman who set off my health care anxiety and I've subsequently found she had an appalling record and reputation and was eventually 'asked to leave' as a result.
I wonder if maybe part of the issue is that women find it harder to make complaints about male HCPs so issues aren't flagged as quickly as they might be with a female.