Student Midwives as Voting Members in ACNM

If you aren't already a member of ACNM, perhaps you haven't received the sudden influx of emails regarding the bylaws changes up for vote, specifically whether student members should have voting rights. I am publishing my response here publicly to spread the word on this discussion and encourage others to vote in support.

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Dear all,

It is great to see people so impassioned about the issue of the voting"rights" of membership. Importantly, graduated midwives and midwifestudents alike all fall into the category of "membership," and (TL;DR)voting rights should apply equally to all of us as paying members of amembership organization and to all Board members. There seem to be multiplethreads borne of this original post, so I'm writing here in the hopes that theystay connected because truly the themes are intertwined. Especially as a newsemester begins and students enter into our clinical and didactic settings, thetopic of how we hear, truly hear, student voices and input into our professionis at the forefront.

Since in this organization our past roles and contributions underpin people'svalue to our viewpoints, here are mine: In my midwifery program, HollyPowell-Kennedy emphasized the importance of student membership from day one,and supported our attendance at the Annual Meeting. Holly's way of welcomingstudents into the fold of the profession, and pushing us to recognize ACNM as ahome for midwifery and for our service to the broader profession, wasfoundational in my path into ACNM. I sought to contribute my thoughts and opinionsas a student whenever I could, and offered these without recognition or votingrights. I subsequently served as Co-Chair of the Students and New MidwivesSection for one year, Secretary on the Board for three years, and Chair of theGender Equity Task Force for three years. In my time in leadership, studentswere the first to volunteer, ask questions, seek understanding, offering uptime and work to the bigger causes in ACNM. Many student midwives have followedsimilar routes, beginning as student leaders in affiliates or serving onCommittees, or volunteering time/writing/social media advertising to ourprofession: mine is not a singular story. However, like in all institutions,this pathway was more easily accessed and supported due to my white-cis-femmestatus mirroring those already in leadership, and is very often not the storyof those who don't fall into those categories. The current student populationand those coming into midwifery now are far more diverse in every way, andremoving the barrier of paying-but-not-voting members is one such way to"hear" the voices of all the students.

Now in my eighth year of practice, I continue to be fierce in my support ofstudent midwives and their full integration into ACNM's work, and writing thislengthy post is to try my best to bring those on the fence along. We alreadysilo student voices in countless ways in this organization. Lena is absolutelyright that year after year, the student report plays like a broken record,asking for the same changes and improvements to educational institutions andconsiderations of scope of practice, with little-to-no movement internally toour field. We, the voting membership, sit and clap, and commend these studentsfor their countless hours in writing this report, and in speaking truth topower, and then trust the Board and those serving repeatedly in the sameleadership roles to somehow do something different than what has already beendone. When there are discussions on the floor at the Business Meetings, thestudent microphone is heard only after three midwives, despite (for the past 9years that I have attended the meetings) making up about 1/3 of the entireroom. And imagine, IMAGINE, what it must be like for students to look out intoa largely white audience of midwives who have more voice than their diversecohort sitting off in the back and rarely heard on the mic? Imagine the impactthat is having on membership and their views about their importance in ourMEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION's work.

When it comes to the internal work of ACNM's membership and support of thegrowth of our profession, offensive and tired nursing tropes of "earn yourstripes" and "pay your dues like I did" have no place. Thislanguage has to stop: as a millennial and a student-to-midwife member of thisorganization, I can tell you it's language like this that pushes people awayfrom being involved, volunteering, and paying, let alone feeling like theirvote could even make a difference.

What is thefear of a voting student membership? Perhaps it is the knowledge that young /new people might vote in higher numbers than long-standing members. To thatI say: GREAT. Voting participation even in Board elections has been barely 20%of ACNM's midwifery membership, so current members do not seem to be voting foror against their own interests anyway. Perhaps it is the concern that theywill vote without full information and knowledge about the impact to theprofession. To that I say: WHAT? Students are adults and do what any adultdoes when voting: seek information, discuss with more experienced /knowledgeable people, and vote in their best interests or their conscience. Weshould all have more trust in what ACNM brings to the table for vote, and alsomore trust in voters as a population. Perhaps it is the assumption that theymight vote against the majority interest, and that is an assumption of a white/ capitalistic interest, knowing that there is broader diversity andrepresentation coming in through this next generation of midwifery. To thatI say: GREAT. It’s time for big changes in this profession and it is taking fartoo long for those changes to come.

TL; DR: all ACNM members and all Board members should have votingrights.

Respectfully, 

Stephanie Tillman, CNM (she/her/hers)

Midwife, Clinical Instructor │ University of Illinois at Chicago
Chair, Board of Directors │Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health
Board of Directors │ Midwest Access Project