In recent years, it is witnessed that there are increases in the supply of certified nurse-midwives, of which is primarily due to the trend of the expansion of managed care (Hartley, 1999). Technically, a midwife is a person qualified to deliver babies and to care for women before, during, and after childbirth. Today, in most part of the world, midwifery is now legally accessible to women experiencing clinically normal, uncomplicated pregnancy and birth (Macdonald, 2006).

Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of the group or category of people from another (Stillman, 2006). Culture can influences gender issues, as seen in the variety of gender roles across cultures (Ayala & Zaidman, 2003). In the context of this essay, the issues of cross cultural impacts on the midwives profession is one topic that worth in-depth discussions. To explain, under a society, there are often unconscious or implicit cultural expectations on how certain gender should behave and play certain roles (Carter, 2009), or in the case if people expect certain gender to act or behave in certain way. Such cultural expectations have huge implication on the profession of midwives – and indeed are also responsible in explaining the general or average people preference over the female midwives over those male midwives.

For example, in certain culture, it is improper for the male to touch other female whom is not his wife (DiBiase & Gunnoe, 2004; Stillman, 2006). Indeed, some of the men may not allow other men to touch their wives. Such a situation make is hard for the men to take up career as midwives. Yet, there are also cases that cultural issues affected people expectations or perceptions on the ideal career choice of the different gender (Malach-Pines & Kaspi-Baruch, 2008). For example, some cultures may not encourage or does not prefer the men to take up career on jobs or career such as midwives. In such a case, the lack of male midwives is not an issue of gender discrimination, but rather the lack of male applicants or job seekers that are interested in that particular profession. Aside from that, in certain cultures such as in the Indian culture, the men are often perceived as more powerful and of higher social order than the female (Mahalingam, 2003). In such a culture, to ask men to serve as the midwives may not be proper, as the women are supposed to serve the men, under the traditional Indian culture. While modern society may exert some influences on the social fabric, it is reasonable to believe that such implicit traditional social cultural norms are still having impacts of the issues of men taking up midwives career or task in the country.

However, it is also interesting that under some cultures, women are perceived not as suitable midwives. As discussed in Gianno (2004), based on the Semelai culture (i.e., an aboriginal tribe in Malaysia), there is not such job as female midwives. It is highlighted that Semelai women had, it seemed, lost confidence and withdrawn from the pursuit of these statuses. The ‘norm’ in Semelai society has become that women don’t do this, are not capable of it, are ‘not brave enough’ – even though there are no formal prohibitions.

Overall, it can be seen that the differences of cultures may affect the issues concerning male midwives. Due to cultural differences, people have different expectations and perceptions – which influence if male or the female are more preferred gender for the midwives positions in a society. However, the impacts from cultural differences should not be an influencing factor – if such issue is investigated from a rational perspective. Logically, gender differences should not be an issue that affect the performance of the midwives – as long the as the midwives are certified, well-trained and professional.

Another issue that concerns about the larger proportion of female midwives to male midwives is about the expected or demanded roles and expectations on midwives. For example, the midwives are expected to be very caring, understand women, and empathy; aside from being well-trained, knowledgeable and professional (Reiger & Lane, 2009). It is then not surprising to observe the higher proportion of female midwives as compared to the male midwives; because the female tend to have those soft-skills or attributed such as caring, understanding and empathy. In fact, as argued by Gianno (2004), the word ‘midwife’ itself indicates the appropriate gender, at least in English, for this social role. Indeed, from such perspective, the higher proportion of women midwives is justifiable and reasonable, as it is the natures for the female to be more understandings, caring and more capable in understanding the needs of other women; or at least that that is what the customers (i.e., the pregnant mother) think. Therefore, having more female midwives is not something wrong, improper or something should be corrected or adjusted. The phenomenon of higher proportion of female midwives as compared to the male midwives is just some reflection of the perceptions, needs and demands of the marketplace.

References

Ayala, M. P., & Zaidman, N. (2003). Gender, culture, and social support: A male-female, Israeli Jewish-Arab comparison. Sex Roles, 49(11), 571-586.

Carter, S. K. (2009). Gender performances during labor and birth in the midwives model of care. Gender Issues, 26(3-4), 205-223.

DiBiase, R., & Gunnoe, J. (2004). Gender and culture differences in touching behavior. The Journal of Social Psychology, 144(1), 49-62.

Gianno, R. (2004). ‘Women are not brave enough’; Semelai male midwives in the context of Southeast Asian cultures. Bijdragen Tot De Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde, 160(1), 31.

Hartley, H. (1999). The influence of managed care on supply of certified nurse-midwives: An evaluation of the physician dominance thesis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40(1), 87-101.

Macdonald, M. (2006). Gender expectations: Natural bodies and natural births in the new midwifery in Canada. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 20(2), 235-56.

Mahalingam, R. (2003). Essentialism, culture, and beliefs about gender among the Aravanis of Tamil Nadu, India. Sex Roles, 49(9), 489-496.

Malach-Pines, A., & Kaspi-Baruch, O. (2008). The role of culture and gender in the choice of a career in management. Career Development International, 13(4), 306-319.

Reiger, K. M., & Lane, K. L. (2009). Working together: Collaboration between midwives and doctors in public hospitals. Australian Health Review, 33(2), 315-24.

Stillman, L. (2006). Culture, communication and gender: Moving the MDGs forward. Global Watch, 1(1), 47-59.