Although the feminist struggle is decades old, women still struggle with several issues originally brought to the forefront by the feminist movement; issues such as reproductive rights, human sexuality, parenting, violence against women and children, and women's role in the church.
Margaret Farley states in an article on bioethics that “the use of medical technology in relation to childbirth has contributed to the alienation of women from their bodies, their partners, and their children…it has placed women in a network of professional relations which unjustifiably limit their autonomy.”
In my decade of teaching prepared childbirth classes, my main focus was to start young women on the road to responsibility for their health. I had a constant battle with the male medical establishment about how much knowledge women should have concerning birth.
I was told that if I and my partners did not stop telling women about episiotomies and other medical childbirth procedures we would be put our of business. That is exactly what happened. The patriarchal medical staff would give us permission to teach a few harmless breathing exercises but beyond that we were not to relate to
their
patients.
I still boil with anger and indignation at the absolute arrogance of these men and the lack of control that we as women had over the situation. Even birth, this most sacred of female abilities, was being taken from us and identified as a disease by men.
Now many years later, the pendulum has swung forward and now backward. Midwives gained respect, women were allowed decisions in their birthing experience, and babies were kept with the logical caregiver, their mothers. Today women are once again
Reverting back to the decisions made for them by their health care giver. Scheduled medication regimes decided before labor, many types of medication offered, and cesareans on demand.
The work I did years ago to allow childbirth to be under a woman's control is slowly eroding back to becoming a medical procedure decided by physicians. This time however women know they have a choice and they can make it.
