The Midwifery profession is generally attributed to women, thus, male midwives face great difficulty in

practicing their profession.

Men have had a small presence in Midwifery, making up only 3.3% out of the population. In Australia,
this figure equates only to 35 registered midwives according to the 2012 APRA statistics. Most males in
midwifery practice have gone and continue to go unnoticed.

In the United States, Midwifery suffer from a lack of diversity. Studies show that more than 91% of
midwives are white and more than 98% are women. Little research has explored the experiences of
midwives who are men or transgender. The challenges faced by male midwives in terms of education
and actual practice of the profession include feeling singled out and being excluded from certain
activities and opportunities.

In the Philippines, despite the passage of the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 which finally allowed men
to train as midwives, it is still considered a taboo for men to work in this field. According to data taken
from the HESA (the Higher Education Statistics Agency), just 105 male students entered a midwifery
course, compared to 9155 female students. Midwifery is seen as a female profession in the eyes of
society, thus, men were discouraged and/or prevented from training.

If it is difficult to get into the profession in the international and national scene, more so in the
provincial level. In the Davao Region, male midwives face the same challenges and difficulties. Most
male midwives prefer to get employment in hospitals and Rural Health Units.

On the other side of the spectrum are midwives who identify as transgenders. This group of
professionals lament the challenges of other people’s confusion about their gender, thus, to be able to
conform with expectations of society, they have taken to hiding their identity, all the while, struggling
with the resulting loneliness.

Given the above cited conditions faced by male and transgender midwives, researchers became
interested in investigating comprehensively the challenges and difficulties they have gone through.
Researchers found that women were, in general, distrustful towards men in the medical field who chose
obstetrics as a career. They cannot seem to come to terms with this reality and they sometimes
question the motivation of the professional in pursuing this type of career. There are also situations
where women may have had an unpleasant experience with men in the past, thus, entrusting childbirth
to a male midwife is out of the question.

The consensus is, despite the movement to remove gender lines and level the playing field in terms of
career advancement, there are just some professions that, in the eyes of the general population, should
be occupied by females. Unfortunately, in this modern age, midwifery is among these professions.

While male and transgender midwives face challenges in their chosen field, support does come from
various groups such as their family, friends, colleagues and patients. It also helps that, as members of
the medical community, they take pride in their contribution to the miracle of life. Indeed, times have
changed and the world today has been leaning towards inclusion and acceptance. As more and more
professions became open to women in recent years, so should female dominated-careers like Midwifery
welcome men.