The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has apologised for replacing the words “mother” and “women” with the term “post-natal people”.
Its safety guidance for sleeping babies had stated: “Post-natal people in hospital should have easy access to the call bell system, be shown how to use it and ensure it’s working — they should be provided with a bed-side cot for the baby to use while in hospital.”
Following a backlash online, the College removed the guidance from its website the next day.
‘Erased’
In a statement the RCM said: “We would like to apologise that women are not mentioned in our recent safer sleeping guidance.
“This was a huge oversight on our part, especially as we are committed as an organisation to ensure that women are never erased from the narrative around pregnancy [and] birth. We have taken it down from our website while we revise and correct this omission.”
Following its apology, author Milli Hill said: “The tsunami of positive responses they have received to this gesture speaks volumes about how deeply women care about being erased from language.”
Stonewall
RCM is a member of Stonewall’s discredited ‘Diversity Champions’ programme, which rewards employers for promoting LGBT ideology inside and outside of the workplace.
Last month, Stonewall said it would scrap guidance saying organisations should replace the word ‘mother’ with a gender-neutral alternative.
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