The NHS has been told it should stop using the word “midwife” because it is not inclusive of transgender people.
Academics claim in a new research paper that the term, which has been used since medieval times, is out of date and should be replaced with “lead perinatal practitioner”.
Dr John Peddleton, a senior lecturer in midwifery from the University of Northampton, and Dr Sally Pezaro, an academic midwife from Coventry University, claim the term “upholds the patriarchy” and its use “subordinates all who give birth”.
