Home Page Forums MAMPS General Questions Gender inclusive term for maternal health Reply To: Gender inclusive term for maternal health

  • Sarah Tewhey

    Instructor's Assistant
    December 3, 2021 at 7:42 am

    I spend alot of time thinking and asking about this too. I am constantly learning about how to do better both in language and in practice.

    Instead of being more broad, I now try and be more specific depending on the context. Sometimes I use “perinatal” if I’m talking about pregnancy/birth/immediate postpartum. If I want to cast a wider net I’ll use the term “childbearing and reproductive health” or just “reproductive health” if I’m talking about issues related to reproduction specifically. If I want to talk about GYN issues for people who aren’t necessarily using that part of their body for reproduction I’ll use “sexual and reproductive health” or “hormone and reproductive health” depending on the context.

    I constantly feel like in healthcare especially, the language hasn’t caught up yet to our deeply held beliefs and the ways we practice. We just don’t have the words yet to describe what we are doing. Interested in hearing what others have to say.