No Gender Equality or Women’s Health Without Midwives

A major shift is underway in Europe: midwives are now being recognised as essential to both women’s health and gender equality. The European Parliament’s resolutions mark a historic milestone—midwifery is now explicitly recognised as essential to gender-responsive health systems and a key level to advancing women’s health.

Celebrating a year of PUSH on International Women’s Day 2026 with Spotlight to Regional Advocacy Incubator and PUSH Champions Around the World

The first Regional Advocacy Incubator in East Africa made clear why the partnership and collaboration between MAs and community/civil society is crucial. The results were tangible: Across five countries, MAs advanced six national advocacy campaigns that demonstrate the power of multi-sectoral collaboration in advocacy.

Baby Steps is a grassroots organisation that has become one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most persistent voices for change. They have grown into a movement demanding woman-centred care and the right of every woman to have a companion present during childbirth. Yet, in Bosnia’s fragmented health system, this has become a battle.

This year the Human Rights Council published an important update to its technical guidance on applying a human-rights based approach to eliminating preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. That document now explicitly calls for multi-stakeholder consultations that include health workers “including midwives” and encourages States to implement the updated guidance.

The PUSH Campaign joined the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Bogotá, to make one thing clear: midwives are essential to achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Through a week of high-impact events, speaking engagements, art installations, and advocacy actions, midwives were made visible as vital partners in advancing the family planning agenda—beyond their traditional portrayal as “baby catchers”.

Across the Arab States, too many women still struggle to access care that truly centers on their needs, choices, and dignity. Raising awareness and demand for women-centered care—care that listens, respects, and responds to each woman—is essential to building healthier, more empowered communities.

When most people think of midwives, they think about birth and babies, and while that’s true, midwives do so much more. From your first period to your last, from contraception to parenting—midwives are there for your health, your rights, and your choices.

Daniela felt Midwife Magic when she felt truly seen, heard, and supported in her choices. She found that in her midwife, who listened, encouraged, and trusted her while giving her the information she needed to make decisions about her own body.

Safety begins well before birth. With sexual education and family planning, midwives help girls avoid early pregnancies and support women to plan and space their children. This gives mothers the chance to prepare, and babies the chance to arrive healthy and strong.

Rising climate-related disasters disproportionately harm women and girls—disrupting access to SRHR, increasing risks of pre-term births, maternal and newborn deaths, malnutrition, infections, and gender-based violence. Within this context, midwives are critical to providing dignifying, woman-centered care in these crises.

This International Youth Day, we sat with Dina Chaerani, an influential feminist youth leader in SRHR advocacy from YIELD Hub, to hear from her insights and advocacy at the Seville Financing for Development Conference.

Without data, the needs of women, particularly those from marginalized communities, remain invisible. With the right data and advocacy, we can push for systemic changes that ensure every woman, everywhere, has access to high quality, respectful, woman-centred care.

We joined the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), with one simple message: we cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without investing in midwives!

We are featuring My Voice, My Choice, a successful campaign from Europe that built a movement for reproductive health and rights, advocating for accessible, equitable abortion care across Europe.

The PUSH Campaign joined forces with the European Doula Network (EDN) for a global webinar aimed at engaging doulas from around the world in a shared vision: transforming health systems through woman-centred care and midwifery advocacy. The doula network just launched a manifesto to PUSH for midwives.

On May 28, 2025 — the International Day of Action for Women’s Health — the PUSH Campaign brought together global changemakers for a powerful virtual event that placed midwives at the heart of the conversation on women’s health.

PUSH moderates the first panel of civil society advocates at the Human Reproduction Program’s Policy and Coordination Committee bringing together together a diverse range of grassroots leaders and advocates to underscore a message that cannot be ignored: Civil society is a lifeline to delivering sexual and reproductive health and rights.

This spring ICM and partners launched the Midwifery Accelerator. We have been busy advocating for midwives and midwifery models of care alongside our partners and fellow woman-centred care champions from #CPD58 in New York to #WHA78 in Geneva!

PUSH remains bold, unapologetic, and driven by purpose—but it now carries a deeper visual identity. While the design style remains recognisably PUSH, the campaign’s colours have been refreshed to better reflect the values of feminism that sit at the heart of the movement.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the world’s largest gathering dedicated to advancing gender equality and women's rights. This year’s session, CSW69, broke records with an unprecedented number of attendees and events. One of those events was the kickoff of the second phase of the PUSH Campaign, which featured the powerful statement that midwives are essential to achieving gender equality.

PUSH is kicking off its next phase at the 69th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in New York, the world’s largest gathering of gender equality advocates.

We connected with Arpan Patel from New York Cares, to discuss the intricate connection between climate events and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). 

Nepalese midwife providing 15+ medical abortions each month exemplifies investment case for midwives as essential in advancing gender equality.

This Pride Month, we speak to PUSH Graphic Designer Ky Walker about what Pride means to them and how the reproductive healthcare space can better support LGBTQIA+ individuals and families.

In our latest blog post, we highlight 7 experts you should follow to stay up to date on maternal health. Their expertise spans various aspects of maternal health, including the benefits of the midwife-led model of care, trans and non-binary inclusion in fertility and pregnancy care and sexual and reproductive health policy.

Notes on our new Governance Structure from ICM Chief Executive, Dr. Sally Pairman

Have you heard of the term doula before, but are unsure of what it means? Do you know the difference between obstetrics and gynaecology? Are you interested in receiving care from a midwife but are unsure of what this care would look like?

We’re amplifying seven journalists and publications covering maternal health and gender equality.

In recognition of World Breastfeeding Week and our campaign efforts to underscore the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive care midwives provide, we spoke with Marley Hall – a UK-based midwife and the author of Midwife Marley's Guide For Everyone: Pregnancy, Birth and the 4th Trimester.

Neha Mankani investigates communal ownership of women's bodies in the wake of Roe v. Wade.

So, where do we go from here? And what is the role of a midwife in upholding and providing safe abortion care?

We’re excited today to be introducing our two new amazing regional advocacy and community support coordinators and we’re delighted to introduce them to you today and tell you a little bit about their role in the PUSH campaign.