Royal College of Midwives 💙's tweet - "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 & birth. @millihill"

@MidwivesRCM | 49,931 followers

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 & birth. @millihill

Tweet Engagement Stats

Stats are based upon replies and quotes of this tweet

Top Hashtags	%
#sexmatters	0.9%
#womenwontwheesht	0.7%
#wearewithwoman	0.4%
#sexnotgender	0.4%
#womenmatter	0.4%
#waronwomen	0.4%
#comeoutofstonewall	0.4%
More
Less

Top Words	%
oversight	16.4%
midwives	7.9%
pregnancy	6.8%
stonewall	5.0%
erased	4.6%
college	3.9%
mothers	3.3%
narrative	3.3%
mistake	3.1%
rcm	2.8%
listening	2.8%
language	2.8%
apology	2.6%
happened	2.6%
guidance	2.6%
erase	2.4%
being	2.4%
because	2.4%
ridiculous	2.4%
any	2.4%
deliberate	2.2%
gender	2.2%
sense	2.2%
postnatal	2.0%
erasing	2.0%
mentioning	2.0%
change	2.0%
ensure	2.0%
erasure	1.8%
inclusive	1.8%
using	1.5%
rights	1.5%
giving	1.5%
correcting	1.5%
believe	1.5%
absolutely	1.5%
based	1.3%
childbirth	1.3%
youve	1.3%
important	1.3%
nonsense	1.3%
used	1.3%
apologise	1.3%
acknowledging	1.3%
babies	1.3%
wasn	1.3%
leave	1.1%
advice	1.1%
needs	1.1%
means	1.1%
More
Less

Top Emojis	%
👏 E0.6 Clapping Hands	3.5%
❤ Heavy Black Heart	1.1%
🙏 E0.6 Folded Hands	0.9%
😊 E0.6 Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes	0.9%
♀ Venus	0.7%
💕 E0.6 Two Hearts	0.7%
👍 E0.6 Thumbs Up	0.7%
😂 E0.6 Face With Tears Of Joy	0.7%
🤔 E1.0 Thinking Face	0.4%
🌸 E0.6 Cherry Blossom	0.4%
More
Less

Top Applications	%
twitter.com Twitter for iPhone · twitter.com/download/iphone	34.8%
mobile.twitter.com Twitter Web App · mobile.twitter.com	31.5%
twitter.com Twitter for Android · twitter.com/download/android	30.0%
twitter.com Twitter for iPad · twitter.com/#!/download/ipad	3.1%
about.twitter.com TweetDeck · about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck	0.7%

Top Content Types	%
URL	30.0%
GIF	1.1%
Photo	0.7%

Engagement Map

Quotes

Replies

Retweets

Replies and Quotes

Total of 396 replies and 165 quotes found

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Royal College of Midwives 💙

@MidwivesRCM

We have taken it down from our website while we revise and correct this omission.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Cathy Devine

@cathydevine56

Thank you. Please do not replace women with so-called 'postnatal people'. It is highly offensive to many of us women who have given birth. And others.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

LornaFitzpatrick KPSS💚🤍💜

@oldscousema

I'm not going to gush and thank you for something as basic as using the word woman in relation to pregnancy and birth. You need to give a lot of thought to how your relationship with stonewall is blinding you to reality.

Helen Joyce

@HJoyceGender

It really, really is worth complaining whenever women are erased. Well done @millihill , well done others

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

la scapigliata

@lascapigliata8

Really glad to see this. Now will you please dissociate from Stonewall and other orgs who are actively campaigning to remove women's sex based rights, as well as words "woman" and "mother" from healthcare and policy?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

AMothAteMyGran

@AteMoth

I find it bizarre that we have reached the point that I am so relieved that the RCM is prepared to use the word woman in relation to pregnancy and childbirth but here we are. Thank you for listening to women who do not wish our words to be erased. Well done @millihill.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Franziska

@FranziskaHaber

Thank you ♥️ Women are not an abstract concept to be redefined or erased at will. Deconstructing us in language insults our intelligence and dignity. We will never accept it

Milli Hill

@millihill

Really impressed that the RCM have apologised here and are addressing this thoughtfully. Thank you @midwivesRCM for listening to women, you will have just gone up in many many people's estimation, including mine.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Shambolic Neutral 👩‍💻🦖 KPSS 💙💛

@BradfemlyWalsh

It is utterly bizarre that the Royal College of MIDWIVES would leave out the words woman and women when talking about anything they do. It's good you've done this but deeply troubling that you ever allowed such institutional capture by misogyny to allow this to happen at all.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Col. Mortimer 🟥⬛🟧

@amysteron

Women must in their daily lives be vigilant against so many threats due to the reality of their biology. That burden is now magnified by the threat of linguistic and institutional erasure, and it is both tragic and suspicious that in this they must be vigilant even against you.

Cllr Lynsey McCarthy-Calvert

@LynseyKMc_C

Thank you to @millihill for challenging the removal of sexed language in this important health messaging. Thank you to @MidwivesRCM for your apology and correction.
I recently spoke of the danger this poses with @RosieDuffield1 @TheFamousArtBR @TwisterFilm @JackieDP

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Lottie Lewis

@LottieHistory

The @sciencemuseum could learn a lot from you. Erasing sex = erasing women's sex-based rights.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

For Women Scotland

@ForWomenScot

Thank you.

In reply to @millihill

Milli Hill

@millihill

UPDATE:

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Francis Harris

@fharris2011

Well done. Stating established fact is just factual, it's not hatred

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Rachel Edney

@redney71

Thank you for listening. I do have to say though, that to write this policy without using words for women and mothers must have taken a great deal of effort, I’m not sure it can be excused as an oversight. But thank you, we look forward to seeing the revised version. 🙏

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Dallro1

@dallro1

How can you *possibly* write about pregnancy and birth *without* mentioning "women"?? That's deliberate, not an "oversight"(!)

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Andrea ‘Tired’ Paterson

@WorldOfOrdinary

Thank you. It’s quite astonishing that not having woman in this piece was an oversight though …

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Janice

@Janice5e

"This was a huge oversight on our part" - can you confirm that it was just an oversight? It strikes me that it would take considerable effort (and linguistic acrobatics) to not mention women in such a document. Was it written with Stonewall's Index in mind?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

With Woman

@WeAreWithWoman

On behalf of all of us at With Woman thank you RCM for your understanding of the need for clear safe postnatal advice. In the postnatal period particularly gender neutral language is unclear and confusing and can lead to unsafe practice. #SexMatters #WeAreWithWoman

Iain Dale ⚒️🇺🇦

@IainDale

Well that's cleared that up, then...

You'd think the Royal College of Midwives would be the last organisation in the world to not know what a woman is...

Dr Shonagh Dillon

@ShonaghDillon

Great response. ‘We got it wrong, sorry.’ Quite simple really.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Belstaffie

@Belstaffie

“Oversight”, nah. Virtue signalling to a woke agenda? Yes.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

🦖KH🦕

@kh_99

Thank you - and are you investigating how this huge oversight occurred?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Maya Forstater

@MForstater

Thank you!

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

FairPlayForWomen

@fairplaywomen

Thank you

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Renfield's Afoot💙Vaccinate.🦖

@ThisLeadenPall

Thank you. But how women were not included in the first place needs to be investigated.

George Galloway

@georgegalloway

Not possible to make this up...

TheFamousArtistBirdyRose

@TheFamousArtBR

What is happening?! This is a really good apology, we need to keep pushing back on things like this where people think they’re doing the “kind” thing to completely change language around real topics like giving birth to be “inclusive” without even thinking about what that means.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Billy Bragg in a Billion

@CroneInAMillion

Thank you. Having a name for women is important. We are too often overlooked and can not lose our ability to communicate about ourselves and our distinct needs and experiences.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Safe Schools Alliance

@SafeSchools_UK

Really please to see this. Thank you for all you do to support women, especially under the difficult circumstances of the pandemic. 😊

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Cancelled Dad 96.5%

@FrankEd1967

How can it POSSIBLY be an “oversight”? This is nonsense. Accept what you did and why. #disingenuous

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Womans_Place_UK

@Womans_Place_UK

Thank you. Please read this by @WeAreWithWoman “Midwives want to be ‘with woman’ and women want us with them.” womansplaceuk.org/2021/11/28/mar…

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

The Attagirls #RespectMySex

@TheAttagirls

Thank you. Without women, there can be no pregnancies or births. Without women, the term “midwife” itself is meaningless.

Women's Rights Network - WRN

@WomensRightsNet

Thank you @MidwivesRCM for this.

And an especially big thank you to @millihill for having the resilience and courage to keep standing up for women.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Donna

@GoFigureItOut2

Oversight? Oh my days the very org that assists so many women just misplaced the word women? I don't know who the creator of the document was nor indeed who allowed it past expecting but this is dire

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

BrettG

@brettg1974

Better had this not happened, but thank you for realising and correcting the mistake.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

@the_C_L_H

Thank you - but I feel so sad that we are having to thank you for including the word woman.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Yr Hen Wrach 🦕

@yrhenwrach

Thank you and appreciate you listening to feedback. If women are erased from pregnancy and birth then we are really in trouble.

Dr. Jessica Taylor

@DrJessTaylor

Well done @millihill and thank you to the RCM for recognising how damaging the erasure of women is and discussing it openly here.

Helen Saxby

@helensaxby11

It's quite difficult to erase women from the narrative around pregnancy and birth. It takes a really big #Stonewall effort to do so. This is a good straightforward apology though.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Louise Ashworth 🦖 🟩⬜️🟪

@Ashworth101

Thank you so much for listening @MidwivesRCM ❤️

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Rob B

@stoppelmann

How can midwives forget to mention women? Aren't they all about women?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Kim Frinton

@drowsyfire

Thank you, but erasing women should never have happened in the first place. How many people had sight of the guidance prior to it being published? Shameful.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

(((Centrist Feminist)))

@CentristRambler

Thank you. As someone who has given birth on numerous occasions, I prefer to be called woman or mother. I have no objection to additional terms being used for people who can bear young who don’t want to be called these, but that’s all I want to be called. Thank you

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Gary Moore.Author. Concept 2 Rower. Possible ?????

@IndieDover

well done. But may I gently ask why this was done in there first pace?

mandy rhodes

@holyroodmandy

Things that shouldn't need to be said...👇

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Heather Welford

@Heather_pw

That’s fantastic....quick action, and an understanding that this was a real error. Thank you.

Unaenshock

@Unaenshock

El Colegio Oficial de Matronas de UK se disculpa por la publicación de una guía en la que no se utilizó la palabra "mujer", procediendo a su retirada y mostrando su compromiso para que "las mujeres nunca sean borradas de las narrativas referidas al embarazo y el parto" BRAVO!👏👏

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Susanna Rustin

@SusannaRustin

Thank you. I've rarely felt more vulnerable than in connection with pregnancy/childbirth (miscarriages, difficult labour, birth injury, maternity discrimination) and it's really important to acknowledge that these are women's experiences

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Fiona Gwinnett

@fionagw

A huge oversight is a bit of an understatement. It's hard to believe this was accidental.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Worst Witch

@witch_worst

Yours is a profession crucial to so many women’s lives and that you take women’s views seriously is reassuring. Thank you 🙏🏾

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Danielle Palmer

@LongTallDani

Oversight? Really? Or actually deliberate move which you're now regretting. There's a difference. rcm.org.uk/supporting/equ… pic.twitter.com/ub6hphK3Uq

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Dr Frau Bobble

@FrauBobble

Thank you for saying this🙏 Strange oversight for midwives to have in the first place 🤔 Did you ever have such oversights before in recent years?

la scapigliata

@lascapigliata8

Really good to see this. Now will you please dissociate from Stonewall and other orgs who are actively campaigning to remove women's sex based rights, as well as words "woman" and "mother" from healthcare and policy?

In reply to @SalagreNuriaEnS

Salagre-NuriaEnCH

@SalagreNuriaEnS

Menos de una hora más tarde, el sindicato abre un hilo en Twitter para disculparse y para decir que han quitado la guía de su página web para revisar el contenido.

frances Barber

@francesbarber13

WOMEN NOT MENTIONED FROM ROYAL COLLEGE OF MIDWIVES .

Neale Hanvey MP ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✊

@JNHanvey

This really shouldn’t be something to celebrate, but it is, and I for one am celebrating such a sensible and clear statement.
👏👏👏👏

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Hels

@HelenSimpson4

Women rely on you at their most vulnerable, erasing us is cruel. Thank you for making the change on safer sleeping, please ensure that women are centred in all of your guidance. Thank you @millihill for standing up to this.

Alexander McKay

@WRAMckay

Because who would associate women with pregnancy?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Lottie Lewis

@LottieHistory

👆RCM admit pandering to trans activists was offensive and apologise. @PrivateEyeNews @NevWilson @MailOnline @VictoriaPeckham @andrewdoyle_com @sarahditum @caitlinmoran @ayeshahazarika @fawcettsociety @JuliaHB1 @JustinOnWeb @reallorraine @IainDale @AndrewMarr9 @iancollinsuk

Sarah Phillimore

@SVPhillimore

Thank you.

Alexander Bramham 🦖 🦕

@BramhamAlex

Stonewall reverse its position on "pregnant people" language and the truth emerges. Pitting businesses and charities against each other in a league table is the cause. Thanks @MidwivesRCM.

In reply to @BarristersHorse

Barrister's Horse

@BarristersHorse

As I was saying last night...

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

GC Woman RespectMySex if you want my X💚🤍💜

@CardiffD

Don’t believe for a minute it was an “oversight”. How disingenuous of you.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Questions? You bet I have questions 🇺🇦

@BitterTonic

thanks. But are you saying that there are people trying to erase women from the narrative around pregnancy? And if so, who are they? And what can be done, because that is ludicrous and vile.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Mr Ben- Allison Bailey's Support Animal

@crit_gen

Thank you.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Jenny Ellwood 🇺🇦

@coolkiddo

Thank you! Absolutely the right decision! 👏👏👏 Although I can’t see that calling women ‘post natal people’ can be anything other than a very deliberate choice - it can’t have been ‘a huge oversight’!

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Slarty Bartfast

@DatCatDer

It’s ridiculous that this happened in the first place but genuine thanks for acknowledging and correcting it.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Kane Green

@KaneGreen

It wasn't an oversight. It would be really difficult to write anything about pregnancy without using the word 'women'. It was calculated. But I'm sure that the change is welcomed by all.

Sal Robins

@Sal_Robins

Maybe it’s time to part ways with Stonewall and put the sex based rights and needs of women, the people you are supposed to advocate for, first! #SexNotGender

Mr Malky

@MrMalky

I am glad my Grandmother - a Midwife at Rottenrow and a Community Midwife a la 'Call the Midwife'- is not alive to see this apology

Imagine The RCM having to apologise for not mentioning "Women"

#WomenWontWheesht

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Char StandwithUkraine 🇺🇦🌻

@CharlotteG1711

Can’t believe I have to say thank you for this, but thank you. I think you should be investigating how this ‘oversight’ occurred.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Craig Prescott

@prescottcraig

A huge oversight? Oversight? Really? You didn’t notice? It was entirely intentional on your part because of the relationship you have with the hate group Stonewall. It’s good that you’ve now withdrawn it, but don’t try to minimise this as an ‘oversight’.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Paola Diana

@paoladiana_

Well done. Never erase women

With Woman

@WeAreWithWoman

Thank you @MidwivesRCM. Advice regarding safe sleeping to postnatal mothers is different than for advice for other postnatal people such as fathers and care professionals. Breastfeeding mothers can safely co-sleep. Fathers less so. #SexMatters #WeAreWithWoman

Caroline McAllister-Believer In Biology

@CallieMac88

This is what happens when our services are indoctrinated by gender activists rather than experts.
Well done RCoMs for realising the error.
I hope other services & institutions respond accordingly.
#WomenMatter

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Jill

@witherjay

We shouldn’t be thanking them for acknowledging their ‘oversight’ but fuming at their idiocy in the first place. As if the guidance hadn’t been read and approved by numerous people. It was only when women got angry that they realised their ‘mistake’. It’s not good enough.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

WomenAreWomen 🟣⚪️🟢

@WomenAreWomen3

Thank you. But how could this ever have happened? What dystopian misogyny from a group of (almost exclusively) women who will only ever work with women. Working to erase their own sex.

Cátia Freitas

@Mocha_Soul

ood to see but it would be better to know you're re-evaluating your role in educating and organising professionals so deeply involved in crucial stages in the lives of women as pregnancy, birth and post-labour. Do please start by distancing yourselves from Stonewall et al.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

goldenlionlady 🌻

@goldenlionlady

Thank you so much for retracting and fixing. It’s really@important to us.

milena 🦖⚪💜

@milenacontent

newsflash: WOMEN GIVE BIRTH.
Not all women, but only women.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Billy "Lizzie" Bragg

@lizzbag

I will not thank you until you cut ties with Stonewall and any similar misogynistic, homophobic #GenderWooWoo lobby groups. This is the way to show women can trust you.

Climate Warrior🐬 #ClimateJustice🇵🇸#BDS⚧️ 🌈🇺🇦

@ClimateWarrior7

Surely the Royal College of Midwives is for ALL genders? What if a man gets pregnant and needs help delivering the babies?

My friend Rupert nearly gave birth once, although it turned out to be indigestion.

Legal Feminist

@legalfeminist

Thank you.

Billy Bragg's Umbrella

@business_noone

RCM erased women from motherhood, women made them see their error, they've apologised, hopefully, now they will leave Stonewall.

Catherine Philp

@scribblercat

It wasn't an oversight thought, was it?

The Attagirls #RespectMySex

@TheAttagirls

Putting right a wrong that should never have happened in the first place. Without women, the very term “midwife” (“with woman”) is meaningless.

Catherine Roy 🕷

@catherineroyuk

No apology or 3,000+ outrage at misinterpreting the evidence on breastfeeding and SIDS. That's where we are in UK maternity.

Back in Time West London

@OldLondonW14

It’s absurd that this mistake was ever made. Ridiculous

Mollscroll

@mollscroll

Excellent. But imagine having to commit to ensure women are not erased from childbirth. How in holy hell did we get here ?

Mark Ambler of Cain 🇺🇦

@VeteranGamerUK

Common sense reasserting itself.

Kim Cuthbertson

@Kimmydoll49

How ridiculous that it ever got to the stage, that the Royal College of Midwives ,removed the word woman from any publications. It’s even more ridiculous that women are thanking them for seeing their error and amending . I absolutely despair at this nonsense! 🤦🏻‍♀️

🦖MissChievous 🦖

@MissChievousT

Oversight? Missing the words ‘woman’ ‘women’ & ‘mother’ in publications intended for women is spectacularly odd given who/what you are & who you exist for.
Have you been Stonewalled by any chance? That’s how words such as ‘women’ came to be ‘missing’ ?
Care to explain?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Kate Wolf - #KPSS 🐺 🇺🇸 🙏 🧙🏽‍♀️💜🤍💛🌲🍄

@KateWolf1444

The use of the word 'oversight' though ego saving, is completely disingenuous. One would have to work diligently to remove the women from a guidance by and for women.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

🦖Kelly White🦖

@kelly_white_2

Question, how did this oversight come about in the first place?

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

Delilahinboots🦖🦖🦖

@Delilahinboots

Truly thankful to see this, but saddened that it was an issue to start with. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t an oversight, it was a Stonewallesque intention, and from you, that’s hard. Still. Baby steps.

Phineas Gage

@omoolobikan

They neglected to mention women in a post talking about not just any woman, but women who give birth, and dem talk say na oversight.

The penkelemess continues.

In reply to @MidwivesRCM

bad scientist 🌻 🌿🪶🥕🛼

@barbarnana21

Wow, this is amazing, thank you!

ajoyagua ۞♻️🕊♻️۞

@smerlapeke

"Quisiéramos disculparnos xq en nuestra reciente guía sobre el sueño seguro no se mencionaba a la mujer.
Gran gran descuido x nuestra parte, q estamos comprometidos como organización a garantizar q las mujeres nunca sean borradas d la narrativa sobre embarazo y parto. @millihill"

Over 461 replies and quotes not shown

Retweeters

827 retweeters not shown