[Pil-pc-oceania] Womens' PDC's

[Tamara Griffiths]

Hi Deb,

My mum is a midwife and is very concerned about the c-section rate. She says that it was started by the male obgyn's who didn't want to get up in the middle of the night to deliver babies. So they just book them in and whip the baby out.

If there is an emergency and a need for a c-section, then it should be done, no questions asked.

I have studied how the medical profession (doctors were mostly male then, women weren't allowed to study as a doctor until the late 1890s and were very rare) and the state interacted with mothers in the "Royal Commission into the decline in Childbirth in NSW 1902-3. It is pretty harrowing stuff and showed that women were desperate to control their destinies and their reproduction using all kinds of techniques (too graphic for here). For doing this, and not having the 7-10 babies their mothers had produced, they were called selfish. I have always said I wanted to have my babies in a field or in the garden at home. My mum says yes, but it has to be within an ambulance ride to a hospital (very sensible, my mum).

There are birthing centres in most capital cities now that use mainly midwives and doctors only for emergencies.

As to fitting all this into a PDC? No idea.


We have a local herbalist who is keen to share her knowledge and her produce - perhaps we could build two herb spirals to fit all the ones we women would need at the back door????? A culinary and a medicinal?

I also think that a zone 1 forest garden could be heavily planted with medicinal as well as culinary plants. I have some in but need more niches before I can put more in. It is just too sunny in summer at the moment.

I also like the idea I only recently heard - the fourth ethic in Permaculture as care of spirit... 

My aunty is a goddess woman and she introducted me to Marija Gambutas' work on symbols and patterns in old europe - very similar to the pattern thinking we do in Permaculture.

Probably some women's empowerment workshops would be fantastic too.

I'm pretty new to all this, so I am very keen to hear ideas from all women as to want they would want or what they see as important in a women's pdc.

All the while, sticking to the curriculum!!!!!!!!!!

Love T

From: bocor at bigbutton.com.au
To: pil-pc-oceania at lists.permacultureinternational.org
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 08:26:19 +0930
Subject: [Pil-pc-oceania] Womens' PDC's








I have always been interested in natural medicine: 
herbalism in particular is a very rich field (pun unintended).  There is of 
course a very ancient tradition of women as healers to draw upon. 
 
Also, in this current era with childbirth (as well 
as most aspects of health management)having been almost totally appropriated by 
druggists and technologists -aka the medical profesion- resulting in a 
dangerously spiralling caesarian rate, it would also be advantageous to have a 
segment on natural childbirth.  I know David Holmgren has often spoken in 
support of this..
 
Healthy children means healthy communities, and a 
wholistic person centred health perspective transfers really well to a 
philosophy of caring for the environment and the planet.  Care for animals 
is also worth promoting.
 
Cheers
Deb
 
 


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