Paris (AFP)

"We give birth to you, we must be recognized": a day of mobilization brought together several dozen midwives in several cities in France on Wednesday to denounce the lack of recognition of the profession, and salaries deemed too low.

The demonstrators responded to the call for a strike by the two main trade union organizations in the profession (ONSSF and UNSSF) in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Paris in particular, during a working meeting at the Ministry of Health.

"In many large maternity hospitals, there were 100% strikers," said Caroline Combot, secretary general of the National Union of Midwives (ONSSF), even if the majority worked since they were assigned.

In Bordeaux, around fifty midwives and students gathered in the city center, notably performing a flash mob on the song "Mesdames" by Grand Corps Malade.

Behind them, a large banner showed "Code Red", an expression which designates the initiation of a cesarean section in extreme urgency to save the mother and / or the child.

"We wish to be recognized as a medical profession by the administration", explains Marina, midwife at the Protestant Health House of Bordeaux-Bagatelle, in Talence.

"After the Ségur de la Santé, where we were not represented, we were increased as medical secretaries, to the tune of 183 euros."

For Sarah, also a midwife at Talence, the risk of massive retraining hangs over the profession.

"If only 10% did, the system would collapse," she worries.

"There is a burn-out of the profession", which feels "invisible" while its skills are broad.

This devaluation is also expressed in the lack of resources granted to the sector, according to the unions.

Sandrine Bensi, spokesperson for the Sages-femmes de Haute-Garonne collective, asks for more staff: "It is dangerous to let a midwife follow two or even three deliveries on her own at the same time", she says, claiming "one midwife per woman giving birth".

In Toulouse, the gathering brought together around forty midwives.

If the profession is little considered, it is because "it is a profession of women, for women", sighs Betty, who works in the public maternity hospital of the Kremlin-Bicêtre, in Paris, where about fifteen midwives demonstrated.

"We're still a patriarchal society, so that's not too much talk."

A mission of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) was launched at the end of the working meeting at the Ministry of Health, but the discussions were deemed "disappointing" by the ONSSF.

A new mobilization is planned in Paris on March 8, for the international day of women's rights, and will perhaps extend to other cities, indicates the union.

© 2021 AFP