Sage Femme

“Birth is a rite of passage in every culture that conveys the core values of that culture. It enacts and displays them,” - Dr. Robbie Davis-Floyd, medical anthropologist. Cultures that “super value” technology, use a lot of technology at birth. Cultures that “super value” nature and human experience tend to be “low tech and high touch.”

Which is best for mother, baby and ultimately society?

What are the regions where birth is safest?

Iceland and Sweden are the only countries that rank in the top five safest countries for both mothers and babies. The US (pop. 301,782,493) ranks 43 for infant safety at birth and 31 for maternal safety at birth.

In the 2006 Global Gender Gap Rankings from the World Economic Forum, Sweden and Iceland again ranked in the top five for countries with low gender inequity in economics, in educational attainment, in political empowerment and in health and survival. Sweden is the highest ranked – ‘the best place to be a woman’ followed by Norway, Finland and then Iceland.

The US ranked 22 on the Gender Gap list.

The following statistics compare healthcare costs per capita in Sweden, Iceland and the United States:

The rate of cesarean sections:

Sage Femme believes that technology needs to be valued but not 'super valued' to the extent that the juice of human experience is lost. We think that low tech and high touch (love!) is better for mothers and babies at birth. It is less expensive too. Sweden, the country with the highest world ranking for gender equality, has the second highest ranking for safe birthing practices. At the same time, Sweden has relatively low per capita health care costs - nearly half that of the United States which trails Sweden in infant mortality by 41 points.

Sage Femme believes that the benefits of low tech and high touch at birth translate into:

We make films to demonstrate this. We sponsor the Motherbaby International Film Festival to show these films and we maintain the Home Birth Videos website to sell them. We love what we do.