ABSTRACT
The role of men in childbirth has been a topic of academic and popular debate for some time, raising strong feelings in fathers’ organizations, among women and in the press. In 2009, the French obstetrician, Michel Odent, who has long opposed the presence of fathers in the delivery room, argued his case at the Royal College of Midwives’ annual conference. Odent is not a lone voice amongst obstetricians in questioning the centrality of the role accorded to fathers on the twenty-first century labour ward. The work of Klaus and Kennel (1997) on support provided to women by women during labour concluded more than a decade ago that: ‘The father’s-to-be presence during labor and delivery is important to the mother and father, but it is the presence of the doula [another woman] that results in significant benefits in outcome’. Odent’s views were hotly contested by members of the Fatherhood Institute, notably Adrienne Burgess who wrote in the Guardian that fathers’ attendance at labour benefitted both mothers and babies (Burgess 2009). However, the most recent Cochrane Review (Hodnett et al. 2007) of support during labour concludes that women are best supported by other women during labour.
