Men as Midwifery Professionals: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background/introduction: Midwives provide skilled, primary, reproductive, and sexual health care to women, adolescent girls, and infants throughout the perinatal period, promoting health and safeguarding against obstetric emergencies and maternal and infant mortality. In many cultures, midwifery has been a predominantly female profession. However, in emerging research, the proportion of male midwives is growing to augment shortages of female midwives, prompting a need for further research that explores the contributions of male midwives in maternal and child health. The objective of this scoping review was to synthesize key findings from the literature regarding the growing, global workforce of male midwives. Specifically, we aimed to evaluate (1) the temporal nature of the publications, (2) the geographic distributions of the emerging literature, and (3) the key findings regarding male midwives' training and work experiences.

Methods: We used Semantic Scholar and Google Scholar to identify relevant, peer-reviewed articles using the keywords "gender," "male," "men," "midwifery," and "nurse midwives," that met the inclusion criteria: (1) primary research papers, (2) published in the English language (for ease of understanding by the multinational, interdisciplinary authorship team), (3) explored male midwives' experiences during training/education and working, and (4) published between 2000 and 2023. Papers were excluded if they exclusively focused on females or nurses or other health professionals.

Results: Our initial search yielded 57 articles, with an additional nine obtained by reviewing the references. After excluding duplicates and reviewing based on inclusion criteria, 26 papers were included in the scoping review. All 26 articles were published between 2011 and 2023, with the majority (65%, n = 17) of articles focused on populations in the African region (Aims 1 and 2). Key findings (Aim 3) were as follows: 1. Training experiences of male midwives: Compared to other regions, male midwifery students in African, Middle Eastern, and Asian settings reported challenging training conditions, possibly influenced by sociocultural factors and gendered expectations of men in these settings. 2. Pregnant/birthing persons' delivery experiences and gendered preferences for their attending midwife: A significant number of birthing persons would choose female midwives over male midwives for their care, despite acknowledging similar skill sets. However, younger clients, urban residents, and non-traditional men expressed a need for gender equity and greater acceptance of men as midwifery professionals. 3. Professional work environment: Many of the male midwives faced professional challenges, often stemming from societal and professional prejudices, leading to feelings of alienation and marginalization within the midwifery profession. Despite these challenges, they remained dedicated to the profession and felt supported by their family, friends, and coworkers.

Conclusion: Male midwives represent a growing proportion of the global obstetric workforce and provide an important contribution to addressing maternal morbidity and mortality. Further attention to providing equitable training opportunities, navigating caregiving within settings with strong cultural and religious influences, integrating cultural, geographic, and religious diversity into the midwifery curriculum, and providing male midwives with mentorship and role model support to grow and sustain their careers are urgently needed for improving maternal and infant health outcomes.

Keywords: men; midwifery; review.