Midwife

Midwifery, the art of helping people to give birth, is among both the most important and teh most underappreciated professions in Leanor. Unlike most other fields, midwifery is dominated by women. In western Leanor it is indeed seen as unbecoming and therefore exceedingly rare for a man to be present during a birth, so more often than not, one will only find women in a room with a woman in labour.

Helping children into the world while also making sure the mother stays safe and healthy in the process requires immense knowledge and skill, as well as a lot of experience, patience and compassion. It can be hard work for many hours at a time, often at night, and the work does not start or stop with childbirth. Midwives often guide mothers all the way from early pregnancy to long after giving birth, supporting them and answering questions on how to care for the child.

It takes years of training and learning to become a good midwife, and there is often immense pressure to do everything right. Most midwives are women, and many are mothers themselves and understand the process of childbirth both in a professional and personal capacity. There occasionally have been cases of male midwives recorded, but especially in western Leanor this is extremely rare and considered a rather strange choice of profession for a man. In eastern Leanor, it is slightly more common, but still quite rare.

The existence of midwives is vital to leanorian societies. Any person who has given birth knows exactly how important they are.

Sadly, the fact that their work is mostly done behind closed doors leads to a lack of understanding and appreciation amongst the men in power.

So long as everything goes right, the work tends to go unnoticed, but if something goes wrong, blame is often put on the midwife.

It is an unfortunate truth that this can lead to the midwife losing her job, being kicked to the streets or experiencing violence from men.