Muslim Women's Network UK - Maternity experiences of Muslim women from racialised minority communities (12 July 2022)

Summary

This report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Muslim Women and the Muslim Women's Network UK aimed to investigate the maternity experiences of Muslim women in the UK, particularly from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds. It aimed to better understand the factors that influence the standard of maternity care Muslim women receive, and to determine whether this may be contributing to poorer outcomes for them and their babies. 1,022 women completed surveys and 37 women were interviewed for the research.

The study focused on the care given throughout pregnancy in the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods. Experiences of sub-standard care were analysed to find out:

• whether they were associated with the women’s intersecting identities such as ethnicity, religion and class.
• whether attitudes were due to unconscious bias (for example, negative stereotypes or assumptions) or conscious action (for example, microaggressions).
• what role (if any) organisational policies and practices played.

Particular attention was paid to how near misses occurred as this information could help to save lives of mothers and babies. To show what good practice looks like, positive experiences were also highlighted.

Content

Key findings

The report discusses the following key findings, as reported by Muslim women who took part in the research:

1. Poorer experiences during the intrapartum and postnatal periods
2. Hierarchy in bias and invisibility of certain ethnic groups
3. Women denied choice
4. Substandard miscarriage care
5. Antenatal information not accessible
6. Gaps in the quality of antenatal care
7. Women not listened to
8. Lack of compassion, respect and dignity
9. Cultural competence gap
10. Antenatal care not personalised according to risk
11. Poor management of labour and birth
12. Poor intrapartum outcomes
13. Women denied pain relief
14. Women pressured to accept interventions without consent
15. Women pressured to have labour Inductions
16. Women more likely to have emergency caesareans and instrumental births
17. Women more likely to experience postpartum haemorrhage
18. Maternal sepsis missed
19. Gaps in the quality of post birth and longer-term postnatal care
20. Substandard breastfeeding support
21. Substandard perinatal mental health support
22. Negative attitudes of healthcare staff
23. Suffering in silence – women not complaining