Pink is for Midwife: Birth Work in Bangladesh with Rafia Islam

In this episode, Augustine sits down with Rafia Islam, a midwife from Bangladesh with eight years of experience spanning refugee camps, mentorship roles, and one of Dhaka's busiest labor wards. Rafia walks us through her training, her path from data collector to midwife, and what a 12-hour night shift with 13 deliveries actually looks like.

The conversation turns to the realities shaping birth in Bangladesh: a cesarean rate as high as 80% in some private hospitals, the financial incentives driving unnecessary surgery, and the coercion many families face in the delivery room. Rafia also shares why midwives are legally barred from home birth in Bangladesh, how the country's neonatal mortality rate has dropped dramatically since 2000, and a harrowing memory of delivering a baby during a hospital fire.

This is a candid look at what it means to fight for autonomous, respected midwifery care in a system still learning what a midwife is for — and a reminder that no matter where you practice, the work of holding space for birth looks remarkably the same.