Give Birth like a Feminist

Your body, your baby, your choices

Voted one of the ten best books for expectant parents by the Independent, Give Birth like a Feminist has sold nearly 50 thousand copies and been translated into Dutch, German, Czech and Ukranian.

It blasts the feminist spotlight into the labour ward, insisting that birth is no longer left off the list in discussions about female power, control and agency. Both a thought-provoking guide for pregnant women, and a call to arms, this is a galvanising book that explains why women are the key decision makers in childbirth, why they need to know their rights and take an active role in their choices, and why they must find their voice and have their say in the birth room just as they have already done in the board room and the bedroom.

Milli Hill lays bare the modern experience of pregnancy and birth in the developed world through research, personal testament and the accounts of hundreds of mothers. She illustrates how medicalisation and systems laid down by a patriarchal society have developed to disempower, even dehumanise, women at the gateway to motherhood. And she prepares the current generation of women for what to expect, setting out their often overlooked options and rights.

For too long, women have been told that a healthy baby is ‘all that matters’. 

Give Birth Like a Feminist dares to say: women matter too.

  • Independent Best Pregnancy Book

    Indy/Best

  • The title – Give Birth Like a Feminist – immediately drew me in and I was very curious about it and I have subsequently become obsessed with the book!

    Ella Mills

  • In case anyone is uncertain about what you’re “allowed” to do when giving birth, Hill spells it out: stop asking for permission, recognize that your experience matters–quite a bit–and demand respect. Researchers, activists, and journalists have been raising alarms about inappropriate and even abusive maternity treatment for decades, yet it persists. Hill joins the chorus with a loud call to action for feminists: this is your issue, too.

    Jennifer Block, author of Pushed and Everything Below the Waist

  • A brilliant riposte to all the ways women are encouraged to approach childbirth with fear and deference, Hill’s book leaves the reader not just well-informed, but with a renewed sense of pride in the power of the female body.

    Victoria Smith, author of Hags

  • Part of a raft of new titles broaching that final frontier of feminism, family life.

    Prospect Magazine

  • Many people hear the expression “birth is a feminist issue” and nod. Others might hear the phrase and be stumped. Milli Hill, however, explains why this is true in a clear, compelling and convincing way. This book is vital to understanding why how we think about birth is so central to women’s rights. Whether a person is considering giving birth or not, Milli Hill’s exploration of childbirth as a central feminist issue is a must-read.

    Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

  • Milli Hill is one of our very favourite birth writers, and we have long appreciated the work she is doing to improve the experience of childbirth for women everywhere. Birth has been overlooked by feminists for too long, in spite of the injustices happening in the labour ward, a place where opportunities are consistently missed for women to understand and trust their bodies, and experience their female power. This book is a rallying cry for women everywhere to take charge of their births and recognise their own autonomy at this pivotal moment in their lives. Everyone should read this book and look at the experience of childbirth through a feminist lens.

    Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, The Business of Being Born

  • Finally someone brave enough to say the words feminist and birth in the same sentence in a book that is not an academic polemic. Birth is THE feminist issue of our century and feminists have dropped the ball.

    Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, University of Western Sydney

  • This is not a book just for expectant moms. Everyone should read it, especially doctors, nurses, midwives, partners and grandparents. The world has changed and this awesome book connects the dots in a way that can change minds and improve outcomes. Bravo!

    Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: A History

  • This book is so needed at this time for anyone who is interested in childbearing. The climate of birth is discussed with clarity and honesty from a global perspective giving the reader an overview of what challenges women face. As a midwife I have witnessed many of the examples and have supported women who Milli identifies as ‘wishing to birth outside of guidance’. Patriarchy, power, language, assault and ‘obstetric violence’ are truthfully revealed from a woman’s perspective. I urge all midwives to pick up this book; read, digest and reflect. Milli leads the way in advocacy for women and exposing the truth about birth in our modern world.

    Dr Kathryn Gutteridge, former President of the Royal College of Midwives

  • A most necessary book.

    The Bookseller

  • Give Birth Like a Feminist should strike a chord with all women as birth is very much a feminist issue, and one, as this book discusses so well, all women have a right to take control of.

    City Kids Magazine

  • A radical new book.

    Sunday Times