It could be said that, though I've been leftwing for more than 20 years, I became truly radicalized, truly feminist, in connection with questions of birth and childcare. I'll say more about that in future posts, but today is International Day of the Midwife, and though I failed to observe International Women's Day here on the blog, and I let another May Day go by without marking the occasion, I'm not going to miss this one.
So this is in honor of all the midwives, all the doulas (especially my dear friend Emily Pelton, who was our excellent doula), all the childcare providers, all the women persecuted as witches throughout history in the transition to capitalism (and also Karen Carr, who today was able to negotiate a plea agreement against ridiculous charges that could have put her in prison for more than 30 years). Thank you. Without you we are nothing.
(Here is the World Health Organization on the day, and the Midwives Alliance of North America with a list of useful links on midwives and ways to mark the occasion.)