Season 1 Episode 2: Karel Williams on birthing on country Artwork

Birthing and Justice with Dr Ruth De Souza

Childbirth is supposed to be empowering, but for many birthing people it is not. For Indigenous women, immigrant women and women of colour, birthing within the western healthcare system can be anything but affirming. It can feel unsafe. In this raw and challenging talks series, health researcher, clinician and nursing educator Dr Ruth De Souza (RMIT University) hosts conversations about birth, racism and cultural safety with change makers working within the maternal health-care sector to break down the structures built on colonisation. This is a series that will give birthing people hope and power when they’re at their most vulnerable.

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Birthing and Justice with Dr Ruth De Souza

Season 1 Episode 2: Karel Williams on birthing on country

June 11, 2021 • Ruth • Season 1 • Episode 2

Episode synopsis: What role does community play in childbirth? And why has childbirth become centered on the western hospital system? Karel Williams is an Aboriginal woman with family connections to the Palawa and Western Arrernte Nations and is an experienced Indigenous policy advisor and midwife who champions the culturally simple yet politically complicated practice of birthing on country.

Episode notes:

Read more about birthing on country.

https://anmj.org.au/birthing-on-country-improving-indigenous-health/

Find out more about the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives. https://catsinam.org.au/

Birthing and Justice is written and produced by Dr Ruth De Souza on the traditional and unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations. Sound editing by Olivia Smith.