The recognition of traditional midwives

This article explores the reasons why Australian traditional midwives need to be recognised by their registered sisterhood. This issue is of particular significance as NSW midwives gear themselves for a campaign to redress the 1991 changes to the NSW Nurses Act. This Act threatens in a variety of ways to denigrate the future of midwifery as an autonomous profession. Do we leave the plight of the traditional midwife to feminist groups to raise and address, or do we work in harmony and with a responsibility to the less recognised, to achieve a profession that is responsive to all women's needs, whatever their race, locale and class?