Easter 2025

The Easter season in Christianity stands for profound sorrow and even greater joy, and thus perfectly embodies our midwifery profession.

Fertility and creative power, the emergence of life, the dawn of something new. Mostly positive, though not always. Being aware that everything is in flux and coming into being, that life somehow goes on, that crises are merely new beginnings—this applies to world politics on a grand scale, but also to every family in a small way, and especially right now to us self-employed midwives.

These days, we are celebrating several births and yet feel sad and uncertain about how we can continue working given the outcomes that the arbitration ruling on fee negotiations means for us. No—being a midwife is not a hobby, but our profession, our livelihood. It is a demanding job at any hour of day or night with unpredictable workloads, a (mostly) women’s profession for (mostly) women—plus the surprise of pregnancy. And yet we’re supposed to accept this: a birth here with us ‘at the Josefs’ is worth only 80 % of the planned fee?! If, at the same time, a second woman is in the delivery ward (regardless of the reason!), her birth is reimbursed at only 30 %?! In both cases—with each child in the womb or at the breast—we still bear 100 % of the responsibility and 100 % of the costs! The unpredictability of births is being punished financially. Night work, work on weekends and public holidays—like today, Easter Monday—will in future bring in less than before. An outrage!!! Despite our incomprehension of this ‘valuation,’ we are striving to deal with the situation constructively and purposefully.

Hopeful, as Easter dictates.
Powerful, as spring reveals.
Brave, because giving up is not an option.

This is how birthing women show us the way every day. This is who we midwives are. We always find a way.
Thank you for your inspiration and your trust in these challenging times.