A midwife is a trained professional who helps women during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the early days after a baby is born. Midwives focus on supporting natural birth and the health of both mother and child.
From Middle English ‘midwif,’ where ‘mid’ meant ‘with’ and ‘wif’ meant ‘woman.’ It literally meant ‘with-woman,’ someone who is with the woman in childbirth.
The word doesn’t mean ‘middle wife’—it means the woman who is ‘with’ the mother during birth. Modern midwives blend ancient hands-on care with medical training, and in many places they safely handle the majority of births.
Midwifery has historically been a women-dominated profession and often devalued or regulated by male-dominated medical institutions. Language around midwives has sometimes been used to portray them as unscientific compared to (male) physicians.
Use 'midwife' as a gender-neutral professional term; avoid assuming that all midwives are women or that all pregnant patients are women. Specify 'pregnant person' or 'birthing person' where appropriate and contextually accurate.
["midwifery practitioner","birth attendant","birth care provider"]
Recognize the expertise of women midwives who advanced maternal and neonatal care long before formal obstetrics acknowledged their knowledge, and whose contributions remain central worldwide.
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