Women – devayani tirthali

Yesterday I came across this set of images of sculptures showing birthing, in a facebook group on Indian Art and Architecture. The images are from regions all across India. The sculptures depict various poses – standing, squatting, resting on hands and knees. None of them show the woman lying down, a default birthing position in current times. Some people commented on this and questioned if the poses depicted were practical. In reality, the lying down position is the most unnatural position of all, designed for the comfort of the medical staff rather than the mother giving birth.

I started thinking about birthing practices when I started watching Call the Midwife, a BBC TV series based on Jennifer Worth’s memoirs about her work in East End of London in the 1950s. The midwives provide care to mothers before and after labor in their homes in this poor part of London. It is an intimate relationship with the mother and the entire family, with the midwife helping the woman and the people around her confidence that they are capable of this natural process. The birthing poses are as depicted in the sculptures with the woman actively participating and taking ownership of the process. As the series progresses, we can see how the landscape of care changes as birthing is pushed to the hospitals and comes under the purview of doctors ob/gyn with detrimental effect in some cases. The doctors do not have an intimate relationship with women. Women lose agency lying down as passive participants at the mercy of the doctor.

Today Hindustan Times article “Labour rooms in govt hospitals set for a fancy makeover” reflects this warped understanding of what is and is not natural or okay in a birthing situation. The initiative is part of the Respective maternity Care with the objective to make natural childbirth stress free. It plans to introduce nurses trained in midwifery in a phased manner in government hospitals with high case load. Midwives or nurses trained in midwifery are the most effective birthing partners in majority of natural birthing situations. Only a few need attention from an obstetrician. If this is the reality, then why are midwives being called the ‘fancy addition’ or ‘extra frills’ and not the doctors who are not essential to the process?

Here is a video clip that collates depiction of birthing practices across the world. The narrator points out that the depictions show: mother as the important figure in the process, active, capable. They are seen as a strong person and their inate ability to give birth is respected

Can we get over our perception of what is normal birthing process and help women do what their bodies are designed to do?

Last two weeks have been pretty intense for me. I went for this program – screening of the film BEYOND BEATS and RHYMES and a panel discussion afterwards . Quite an experience. The film looked at a lot of aspects of hip hop music but I wanted to note down a few things that struck me the most about portrayal of women.

The movie had a few examples of how women are portrayed in hip hop albums, I have myself read a few songs which talk about bitches and sex with them in horrible details. When the women fans of hip hop music were asked (in the film) about this portrayal and how they feel about it they said something to the effect that ‘They aren’t talking about us so we don’t take it to heart’. But looking at the way the male fans were treating these women I realized that one cannot ignore insults like that because one perceives it as not touching you. The men did take the lyrics and portrayals seriously and they did think the women around them were bitches and were groping them and harassing them.

Another comment that caught my attention was men differentiating between bitches and sisters. Even in India the modern male makes a distinction between ‘female friends’ (good for non-traditional fun and intellectual pursuits) and ‘girls who are wife material’ (traditional girls, submissive). La Bruha, one of the panelists, in this context, also talked about treating women either like a goddess or like a doormat. This also was something that reminded me of India. Indians tell the world that their culture treats women respectfully like a goddess. All that reads well in the subhashitas (sanskrit verses) and is good to show off greatness of our culture but basically putting somebody on the pedestal is like putting them in a cage. One who puts you on a pedestal is ready to strip off the status at the smallest indiscretion. I liked what the poetess La Bruha said, I don’t want to be on the pedestal because that gives you the power to pull me down, so I named myself ‘the witch’.

I liked that attitude. I should think of finding a name for myself that portrays what I feel about me and start writing my blogs under that pen name.

Tag: Women

Labor of love & power

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