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Birth activism in Australia

I was pleased with my presentation at the Conference today. I spoke about the “Rich History of Birth Activism in Australia - lessons learned” and offered a snapshot of a few heady years in the late 1970s when Parents Centres Australia set out to expose the awful conditions in which women were forced to give birth in Australia. We learned a lot through our activities and I offered some personal insights into campaigning strategies and tactics.

PCA was a very effective pressure group, initiating the campaigns for breastfeeding support, rooming in, fathers in the labour ward, support for home birth and the establishment of birth centres, amongst other issues. Women in Australia were very ignorant and complacent when it came to having babies - they accepted the indignities and humiliations routinely handed out (soap and water enemas, full pudendal shaving, routine episiotomies, separation from their babies, four hourly feeds etc) as “the way things are done” and stoically put up with it all. PCA, with its outspoken methods, really shook things up. The hospitals were favourite targets and the doctors were regularly lambasted for the pompous, arrogant subjugation of their “patients”. The media were helpful and regularly published quotes and letters and many useful articles were written up supporting the call for change.

Demonstrations were another effective tactic and public displays offered a chance to educate and well as publicise the cause. I was able to obtain a wonderful collection of images of early rallies newspaper cuttings and reports to show this modern day audience how we challenged the system and created an awareness that birth could be better for both mothers and babies. Elaine Normling, an early President of PCA was a fanatical archivist, carefully creating a record of everythign we did. Much of the PCA material is now held in the Jessie Street Library in Sydney (which specialised in women’s issues), but Elaine still holds many of the scrapbooks she collated and generously helped me assemble a collection of images of r this presentation. Here are some that I presented:

One of the first rallies we held was in support of breastfeeding. A number of us set up a display in Australia Square, giving away inflated breast shaped balloons that carried the message “Breasts - not so much the container but what it contents” to a very amused and interested lunch time crowd. All the media came to film - the balloons with their clever message guaranteed us a place on most TV News programs that night.

The doctors and hospitals information service was another innovation. Using information gathered from the parents who attended our prenatal classes and some surveys we conducted ourselves, we provided useful information to expectant parents about doctors, hospitals and their practises and also revealed hospital policies.

Conferences became regular events. Following the first Conference ever held on breastfeeding in NSW, PCA offered annual events on the themes of birth, breastfeeding and parenting. These enabled us to educate parents and the community while making enough money to support our activities, newsletters, publications etc for the following year.

The full story of PCA, the CEAs and the early history of the Nursing Mothers Association in Australia is well documented in the book “Our Bodies, Our Babies” by Kerreen Reiger. It offers a well crafted account of those turbulent and exciting times that kicked off the birth reform movement in Australia.

The rest of the Conference was a mixed affair. Some of the speakers, especially Justine Caines, offered practical suggestions and exciting possibilities for furthering the cause of birth reform and others were just out to sell a product (the Pink Kit). Needless to say, people were looking for ideas and tips for making a contribution to the promotion of birth and breastfeeding, and became quite hostile to speakers who were into blatant self promotion.

I hope that those who did come to this event will go on to maintain their interest and passion for better births and birth support, for both women and midwives.

Posted by andrea at April 29, 2007 08:28 AM