Give Birth Like a Feminist

Birth is the feminist issue that nobody’s talking about - the land that feminism forgot - but this book aims to change that. This is Lean In for where it’s most needed: the birth room, from the founder of the global Positive Birth Movement. Finally blasting the feminist spotlight into the labour ward, Milli Hill encourages women everywhere to stand and deliver, not lie back and think of England. As women consider anew their personal autonomy through the lens of #metoo, Give Birth Like a Feminist insists that birth is no longer left off the list in discussions about female power, control and agency. Both a thought-provoking guide for pregnant women and a call to arms, this is a galvanising book that explains why women are the key decision makers in childbirth, why they need to know their rights and take an active role in their choices, and why they must find their voice and have their say in the birth room just as they have already done in the board room and the bedroom. Milli Hill lays bare the modern experience of pregnancy and birth in the developed world through research, personal testament and the accounts of hundreds of mothers. She illustrates how medicalisation and systems laid down by a patriarchal society have developed to disempower, even dehumanise, women at the gateway to motherhood. She then prepares the current generation of women for what to expect, setting out their often overlooked options and rights. This book answers the questions: why should women, their families and healthcare professionals care about women having a positive birth experience? And why should women expect or demand more from their birth? For too long, women have been told that a healthy baby is ‘all that matters’. Give Birth Like a Feminist dares to say: women matter too.