While Black women represent an educated demographic within society, many are entering birth work from a call or a heart or spiritual place. I hear from women frequently that are responding to "a call" to enter birth work as a result of the way that Black women's maternal mortality rates are being publicized. Nikia makes a distinction between the choice to pursue birth work and the call to pursue birth work in order to take Black women's influence in birth culture to the next level.

Nikia describes the 'next level' as Black women being positioned to help Black birthing mothers access available resources within communities, but not at the cost of becoming a martyr. She stresses the importance of Black women having women that look and sound like them, while also knowing how to navigate available resources so that they can have the best opportunities for positive birth outcomes.

See the original blog post with Nikia's information at http://www.drdoula.com/aa-birth-herstory-traditions/building-bridges-between-black-women-making-a-choice-and-those-answering-a-call-to-birth-work

Dr. Doula SPEAKS w/ Divine Bailey-Nicolas: Historian and Herbalist of Southern Black Midwife Traditions

Birth HERstoryBy Dr. DoulaApr 11, 2019