In March this year, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM, 2025a) issued a call to the government to tackle inequalities in maternity care. In particular, the college highlighted the disparities in outcomes for Black and Asian women in the UK. Gill Walton, the RCM's (2025a) Chief Executive, commented that ‘it should not be the case that in twenty-first century Britain … Black and Asian women disproportionally die in childbirth or soon after and we must all work together to change that’.
Echoing this focus, this month's issue of the British Journal of Midwifery includes an article that discusses health disparities for Black pregnant women in the UK, highlighting that ‘negative experiences of maternity services, including discrimination and bias, during pregnancy informs minority ethnic women's decisions and behaviours for subsequent pregnancies’ (Adesina et al, 2025). The authors concluded that ‘Black women need to be listened to and treated with respect during their maternity care’ (Adesina et al, 2025).
The RCM (2025b) also joined several charities and healthcare organisations in calling for concrete committments from the government to ‘ensure women receive the quality healthcare they need through their lives’. The call was issued on the eve of International Women's Day, which took place on 8 March. This year's theme was ‘For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment’ (United Nations, 2025).
Again, this focus on equality is reflected in this month's articles. Sherriff (2025) conducted a qualitative study of the experiences of lesbian and gay mothers in relation to midwifery care in the UK. The author concluded that the ‘barriers in midwifery communication, education and personal philosophy or tolerance to lesbian parenting are indicative of the need for supplementary research, increased cultural competence and facilitation of specialised LGBTQ+ teams’.
It is clear that improvements are needed across the board to address inequalities in care and the rising maternal death rate in the UK (MBRRACE-UK, 2024). While the government's plans to abolish NHS England show that the healthcare system is being given attention, Gill Walton made it clear that ‘the current system is setting staff up to fail, so we all need to work together, with urgency, to improve the safety and equality issues blighting maternity services’ (RCM, 2025c).