⚠️ This article mentions miscarriage.

I write in the context of discussing male violence against women because of my lived and professional experience, hence tending to use “he” in my articles. I approach conversations from a pacifist lens, incorporating spirituality and feminist theory.

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When men with power strangled “witches” – these were women including (but not exclusively) midwives and healers – and then burned their dead bodies at the stake, it was an event that helped set the course of HIStory.

Sound dramatic? The Malleus Maleficarum (famously mentioned in The Da Vinci Code, but is a real book), was first published in 1487.

Malleus Maleficarum means “The Hammer of Witches” and “justifies” killing predominantly women, even those who were community carers, using an old papal “bull” written by Pope Innocent (I know.). It framed the murder of these women as lawful and done for society’s own good. (In fairness, the church is said to have almost immediately condemned the book. However, this didn’t change the horrific slaughter of innocents that occurred next).

The philosophy in the book still seems to carry weight in certain corners of the internet, and across society. The emphasis being that not only are women seen as disposable, that violence towards them is in everyone’s interest, and men can assert the right to do what they want with their bodies, through legislation. (Repealing Roe vs Wade starting to make sense?)

Women being called dramatic is a tactic in itself. Shutting women down is what some men still do today in order to get what they want (and especially if they don’t) or to establish control. Just look at the global femicide rate or the “r ape academy”.

Everything we know about a woman’s body and mind – from her womb to her alleged “hysteria” – also stems from men who thought they knew best (think Plato to Freud).

Meanwhile, men have killed literally thousands of women as a mechanism to silence or control them – and then sought to “justify it”, rarely giving her the same sympathy extended to him. Have we really come a long way?

Ask any woman in medicine about sexual harassment by male doctors and consultants, or female patients about medical misogyny, for example.

Yes, all this in the 21st century.

And now Sky News have found systematic failures in maternity services in the UK, which many women, especially black women – three times more likely to die in childbirth – have been telling us for decades, as well as those navigating miscarriage. As the Sky News report reveals, even the hard working midwives and nurses today are at breaking point. Because they’re in a system predominantly run and influenced by men with historical biases (and occasional violent motivation).

History shows that men claimed medicine – and women’s bodies – as their own for profit and status, until we arrived at this point today, where women’s health – globally – is seen as secondary (if it’s thought of at all) to power and control.

The question is, what will we do now?

If we want something different we have to do something different.

Imagine, for example, if some of the UK’s annual military spending – of £61.7 billion – was spent on women’s health, or even just maternity services, than the fallic missiles decision makers chose instead…

Maybe we can also take something from the current Pope Leo XIV, who has made the case for women to be seen and heard.

In his encyclical (144 page) letter “Magnifica Humanitas” he wrote:

57. Along with a greater awareness of the value of every human person and their rights, recognition of minority rights has also grown. Yet, there is still a long way to go to ensure that the rights of a great many, namely women, are equally and genuinely guaranteed throughout the world. It is a fact that “doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their rights.” [74] It is, therefore, not enough to state simply that men and women have equal dignity and rights; it is necessary that this be reflected in concrete decisions, such as in laws, access to employment, education, social and political responsibilities, and the way society listens to and values women’s contributions. As long as this gap persists, we cannot say that society truly and fully recognizes that women have the same dignity as men.”

Sending love to the families and especially women in the Sky News feature 💖. The work to hear their voices and others continues.

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