WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

The ‘Emotion Work’ and the ‘Shadow Work’ of Midwifery
As the person in charge, the coordinator is challenged to “create a relationship, a mood,
or a feeling for the wellbeing of staff and clients” in an environment where emotions run
high for everyone (Hochschild, 1983, p.440).
The midwife working in a tertiary delivery suite setting is working within an environment
of high emotions and intimacy. There is the joy of new life, the despair of unexpected
loss; the second trimester terminations which occur within an environment that is
traditionally associated with new life; the baby who is born from love and the baby who
is conceived unwanted; the emotions are endless. This is the woman’s time, not the
midwife’s time and within this framework, Skinner (2005, p.272) highlights the need for
midwives to have “the skills to mediate between different worldviews”.
The emotionally charged work of midwives has been researched by Hunter (2001; 2004)
who is a senior lecturer in Wales, in the United Kingdom. Hunter (2004) calls this work
“emotion work” which she defines as the feelings midwives experience in their work
place which they find they need to regulate and suppress when they encounter difficulties
(p.253).
Her research shows midwives become adept at masking their emotions in relation to
issues of workplace conflict which impacts on staff morale and workforce retention. For
example, Hunter (2004) identifies the difficulties for hospital midwives who try to adopt
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