Ask a Midwife: Advice and Perspectives from a Specialist Cultural Liaison Midwife
Summary
Specialist cultural liaison midwife and Association of South Asian Midwives (ASAM) co-founder, Benash Nazmeen RM, answers questions from students, midwives and the TSM editorial board. We focus on her decision to pursue a career in midwifery, her student midwife journey and the work she is doing to elevate the voices of women from marginalised communities and support of pre-registration and qualified midwives to develop culturally safe practice.
Q1 What made you consider midwifery as a career and what support or advice did you receive when applying for a place at university?
Fay, second-year student midwife
BN Would you believe it if I said I flipped a coin?
I knew I wanted to go to university; however, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. The week before the UCAS deadline was due, I read at least five prospectuses front to back. Both teaching and midwifery caught my eye. Unable to decide between the two, I flipped a coin! Funnily enough, following my successful application, I told my mother and she informed me that my grandma was the village midwife and said: ‘It’s in your blood.’ I’m a firm believer in fate; midwifery was always meant to be my future. What I didn’t realise was what a significant role it played in my past. My connection to my grandmother may not have come to light then, because it’s not routine to discuss such topics with your unmarried daughter within my first-generation immigrant family.
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Image taken from The Student Midwife Volume 3 Issue 4 October 2020