It’s another one of those less-easy-to-grasp pay equity cases: the College of Midwives has filed a discrimination suit on the basis that midwives aren’t paid as well as equivalently-skilled/trained/responsible workers in male-dominated industries.
The College of Midwives says the midwifery-led system in New Zealand has improved the outcomes for women and their babies to the extent that it is a world leader in maternity care and it has never been safer to be born.
Despite this however the LMC Midwife is paid the equivalent of someone considered unskilled, semi-skilled or junior staff. This is untenable and must be urgently addressed.
The thing is, unless you’ve had a baby yourself, you probably don’t know a huge amount about what they do or how they’re paid.
Thank god for living in the internet age: here’s a fantastic post on the subject from a Kiwi midwife:
Who do you compare the midwifery workforce to? What group of mainly men are specialized, medical care providers, with a responsibility for two lives, a 24/7 52 week a year responsibility for care provision, and the responsibility of two lives in every decision they make? For that, I don’t have an answer. But I am sure that as a group, we could come up with some ideas. Leave a message in the comments if you have a job description that compares. I am thinking maybe electricians? Or something?
So. i can’t resolve the “how do we decide who to compare to” question. But I thought I would try and add a little light to the subject of “what do midwives actually get paid?”
Seriously read the whole thing before posting another snotty tweet about how ~unqualified~ midwives are.
I’m sad to see a bit of sneering and scoffing on this – from people on the left. I expect the “ew, be grateful for your scraps, peasants” attitude from the weirder parts of the right, but come on, people. We knew it was shady when Cameron Slater was trying to smear Ports of Auckland workers over their salaries. We know that capitalism seeks ways to devalue people’s labour in order to exploit them economically. We know that our healthcare system is stretched and our present government doesn’t value the long-term benefits of properly investing in skills and services.
This is part and parcel of the same project, to undermine women’s work, to paint midwifery as “just holding someone’s hand and telling her to breathe”, not “real qualified medicine”. This is one battle in the wider workers’ struggle. So get over the fact that 99% of the workers involved are women and back our midwives.
Stephanie Rodgers 