Nursing and midwifery: Re-evaluating the relationship

Abstract

The relationship between nursing and midwifery has always been difficult. Thompson et al. (2007) used the metaphor of marriage to describe the potential split between nursing and midwifery. Marriage is usually considered to be a partnership that is willingly contracted by both partners, within a respectful relationship. It is clear, that within the UK and North America at least, the marriage between nursing and midwifery was forced by prevailing social and political conditions (Williams, 1997; DeVries and Barroso, 1997; Sandall et al., 2001). Thompson et al. (2007) stated that midwifery ‘routinely identifies with nursing to develop career pathways, to exploit research and development opportunities’. However, this statement fails to recognise the lack of any alternatives as social, political and economic structures are designed to consider the two as inseparable. Thompson (2007) argues that nursing and midwifery should be considered together and cites the fact that 50% of the world’s midwives are also nurses. This fails to reflect the tensions in countries where midwifery is subsumed into a nursing culture (DeVries and Barroso, 1997). It is prevalent not only in anglo centric countries but worldwide, where governments fail to invest in midwifery—often to the detriment of the health of the woman and her family (World Health Organization, International Confederation of Midwives, and Interna-