Mars Lord on Birthing a New Paradigm for Women of Colour

Mars Lord is an award-winning doula and birth activist with a burning desire to see the ‘colouring in of the landscape of birth.’ She is also committed to finding out the reasons for the maternal and neonatal morbidity rates amongst women of colour.

Mars is the founder of Abuela Doulas, a doula preparation for women of colour. Her desire for reproductive justice led to the creation of the ‘Reproductive Justice Retreat’ and she is a constant force in the community propelling the conversation of women of colour and birth forward.  

 In this episode, we talk about the role of a doula in birth, the importance of cultural and ancestral wisdom, and explore some ways we can regain our power as women and as mothers. I love Mars’s commitment to stand for the truth. She says it how it is and does so passionately and unapologetically. I hope you feel moved and inspired by this episode.

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 Key themes:​

  • The journey into becoming a doula as a mother with young twins and three other children at the time. 
  • The lack of diversity in the birth world and doula organisations and what Mars to create her own doula training course for women of colour.
  • “We have our ancestry, we have our cultures, but all of that has been stripped away from birth, which is normalised as a very white, medicalised Western thing.”
  • The damage of cultural appropriation and token gestures that continue to fetishize black women’s bodies.
  • We need to centre our own lived experience and trace the traditions and reclaim the wisdoms that have passed down in our cultures and grieve what has been lost. 
  • How science is only now catching up to what we’ve always known.
  • Home births vs hospital births.
  • We’ve inherited shame around our sexuality as women of colour. We need to embrace all parts of ourselves.
  • The increased black maternal morbidity rate and reasons why.
  • The need to acknowledge racism and the history of midwifery.
  • We need to the conversations going, keep talking and using our voice collectively.
  • Reproductive Justice Retreat and what true allyship looks like.

Resources mentioned in this episode: ​

About Mars

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“Rise up Queens because, we are powerful, we are strong, we are vulnerable, we are gentle, we are all things, and it’s on our shoulders that the cradle of civilisation rests. Take the hand of your sister and your ancestors and just keep on moving forward.”

Mars Lord . Ep 2 -The Soul Mama Podcast

 

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