PARTERAS DE MAÍZ

From the front page

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 24

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Indigenous individuals also have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services.

2. Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right.

United Nations, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 24.

Text quoted from the United Nations. Parteras de Maíz reproduces the article as it stood on this page; it is not a policy issued by the organization.

I found that stories concerning how and who becomes a midwife stem from deep cultural traditions, religious associations, and identity politics. In their communities, midwives are respected as second mothers, godmothers, miracle workers, or religiously gifted healers. Their roles in their communities are created and contested by women, privileging them to protect both their reproductive rights and cultural rights. Women’s testimonies proved midwives hold cultural importance and when their knowledge is belittled, their culture is equally belittled.