I don't really like the idea that midwifery and for that matter nursing are a 'calling', they are professions like any other that have standards of education and practice that need to be met. Historically, this idea of vocationalism in nursing and midwifery has contributed to the low rates of pay and poor working conditions that nurses and midwives have put up with forever - the idea that since these occupations are "callings" there is an element of sacrifice for the common good involved and therefore there is no need to provide adequate financial remuneration, because then (god forbid) people might start going into the profession 'for the money'. This is then evidenced in the fact that people are leaving the profession in droves - this is not a new phenonmenon, Australia has experienced shortages in nursing and midwifery since the professions began.

Of course I do believe that to work in either of these professions you need a certain level of emotional maturity and empathy for the people you work with - but this is something you gain with age and experience. None of us are born with these attributes - we gain them with life experience and education. Many women find with having children that they gain a real understanding of this and that they want to help others through becoming a midwife or nurse, others don't need to have children to know that they want to enter a certain profession - and you don't necessarily need to know the ins and outs of the job to want to do it. That is what education and training is for. Of course there is the argument that for a midwife to truly be able to understand and empathise with the mothers she cares for, she needs to have become a mother and been through labour herself. Certainly this experience will perhaps change her outlook and deepen her empathy, but I don't think that it is really necessary for her to be able to be good at her job and look after her patients. Nurses and doctors do not need to have experienced the illnesses or injuries of the people they care for to be able to adequately treat them and care for them.