April 05, 2004

Empowering Women in Japanese

My in-tray was brimming with interesting articles/books/videos and letters when I reached my desk in Sydney. Some of these are worth sharing with you over the coming week.

The most exciting surprise was the Japanese edition of “Empowering Women”, which has finally been published. This project has been underway for some time, the idea for a Japanese edition being conceived way back in 1999. Yumi Okoso is an independent childbirth educator in Japan, whom I had met in 1997 when I presented a four day workshop for educators in Tokyo. We stayed in touch, and Yumi suggested that she translate this book into Japanese, as a guide for other educators and also for women who were interested in the topic.

In 2002 I signed a contract with a Japanese publisher, with Yumi to translate. It has taken some time, but at last it has arrived. It is strange to see familiar diagrams with Japanese characters instead of English!

I hope that it proves useful to those working in the Japanese birth services, as it has done in English speaking countries. I now need to get on with the Portugese and Spanish versions!

Posted by andrea at April 05, 2004 03:57 PM

Comments

Andrea, I wonder if you would consider being my mentor. I am impressed beyond words at what I have read thus far of your diary. I have found within me a passion for childbirth education and advocating for the ability of women's bodies to birth their babies, breastfeeding, keeping our boys intact...
However, I am hesitant to get certified in the US because we are planning to move to Europe this year and certification is costly. Would you consider taking a moment to email me so that we might discuss options and your experiences in teaching childbirth internationally. For instance, how do you connect across the different cultural norms and expectations?

There are so many questions I have. It seems you are a busy person, so if you do not have time to mentor me even a bit, perhaps you can simply suggest a childbirth certification program with international recognition (esp Italy).

Many thanks in advance,
Christine

Posted by: Christine on April 29, 2004 02:59 AM

Comments

Hello Christine,

Thanks for the comment that you posted onto My Diary. It is always good to have contact with women who are passionate about birth - there are a surprising number of us, in all countries.

There are many support and/or activist groups for natural/normal birth around the world. You will find that the way birth is managed in the US is very different from maternity care in Europe, where there is a long history if midwifery care and all hospitals are staffed by midwives. In most countries there is little, if any, private obstetric care and doctors work as salaried professionals in hospital settings. The US health care scene is like no other (thank heavens!) and you will find attitudes and practices elsewhere that are quite different.

I would suggest that you don't train in the US before you move - few people would recognise your qualifications outside the US and much of what you learn will not necessarily be useful in Europe. Once you have settled, and found you feet, please contact me again and I will try to put you in touch with some useful contacts, especially in Italy, if that is where you are intending to go. I offer workshops in Italy and Spain from time to time - perhaps I will meet you at one of these in the future? The details of my workshops can be found on my website: www.birthinternational.com.

Best wishes,

Andrea

Posted by: Andrea Robertson on April 30, 2004 08:15 AM