20 Comments
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Important eh...Like Rex Landy says, #holdtheline and #neversurrender. Thanks Annienonymous - feel free to share as you like for MWK ❤️🤍🖤😘

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Brilliant, hard-hitting submission, Sarah and the wahine from Mana Wahine Korero.

(Sorry, I haven't worked out how to do macrons on my keyboard. I've googled it, but the advice there doesn't seem to work for me :-) )

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author

Ooh I think I can help, I had to do this myself the other day - if the ~ button isn't working, it means you need to download the Te Reo language pack - are you using windows or a mac? I'll find you the proper instructions, they were hard to find

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Nov 22, 2022Liked by Sarah Henderson

Ngamihinui Sarah. This is a wonderful document and leaves no room for misrepresentation.

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author

Exactly that Di, exactly that, no room for misrepresentation. ❤️

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Tena koe Di

Is there any way that you and others of Mana Wāhine Kōrero would consider making this document an open letter which could be signed by any woman who wished to. I understand that MWK speaks specifically of a Māori perspective but I feel that the implications which this letter highlights are relevant to all women, mothers and infants in Aotearoa.

Nāku noa

Annie Spurdle

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Nov 24, 2022Liked by Sarah Henderson

Kia ora, not this time around sorry. It's already gone to all MPs and other govt depts. Thanks for the idea. Something to consider for next time.

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Nov 24, 2022Liked by Sarah Henderson

Thanks for all your work on this, it’s truly powerful.

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Nov 22, 2022Liked by Sarah Henderson

Thanks to Dianne Landy and Michelle Uriarau, Phillippa Landy, Sarah Henderson, Rex Landy, Tania Sturt, Frankie Hill for this work. It is powerful!

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Thank you for speaking up for women, tamariki and thereby for the whole community. Respect and aroha to you ❤️🙏

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Thank you Natasha xxx

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May 7, 2023Liked by Sarah Henderson

Thank you for this incredible articulation Sarah. I was a midwife until 2020 and engaged in the submission process when this utter deconstruction of a scope of practice was put out for consultation. I was scathing then about the omission of not just the words but the implications for Women and babies.

Of course by then I had learned that "Informed Consent" was no longer a thing and the Bill of Rights suddenly didn't apply any longer. I shared all this with the Council at the time and unsurprisingly they did not engage with the feedback from many Midwives who made the same objections.

I am so grateful to see such a well crafted piece taking this further. Malo 'aupito.

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author

Good morning Sarah, thank you so much for your comment. I can't tell you how heartening it is to know that there was such strong pushback from yourself and other midwives during the consultation process. Based on the report they put out after all the submissions were recieved, one would think that everybody loved the updated rules and only a few malcontents had any complaint to make. We *will* prevail in the end, I believe, but it's going to be a long, hard fight. Māna Wāhine Kōrero are in it for the long haul, and I'm so proud to have been able to help collaborate on this letter. Perhaps one day, one of the 160 MPs we sent it to will reply! Until then, it's women like yourself out there making submissions who are finding each other and we're all linking arms to stand together against it all. Kia ora for your words, I will pass them on to MWK's co-founders Di Landy and Michelle Uriarau. 🖤🤍❤️

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Mar 28, 2023Liked by Sarah Henderson

I respect and thank you for your stand on behalf of women.

This may be a naive question. Instead of organisations such as the Midwifery Council trying to insert what results in inappropriate, and can I say at times absurd versions of, Maori words and phrases into an English document, why isn't there a separate entirely Maori version with the wording advised by Mana Wahine and various iwi, and leave the English version to be entirely English so that the two sit side by side?

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Why indeed. It is language theft; cultural appropriation on steroids. The idea is to give a veneer of 'culture' to these terrible ideas. It would be much better if there were two versions. Languages do collect words and phrases from each other, but not like they have attempted to do in the Midwifery Guidelines. This is compelled and tortured speech, in both languages.

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Feb 7, 2023Liked by Sarah Henderson

this absolutely rocks. what a beautiful piece of writing. full of wisdom and power.

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Thank you Cara from MWK 😊

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Kia Ora Sarah

Is it possible that this could be made an open letter that we could each sign?

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author

Kia ora @annienonymous, sorry, I couldn't answer that, I'm a signatory ofc but the letter itself isn't mine - Di Landy would be the wahine to ask, she has commented just above though if you wanted to ask her! ❤️

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