(Not) Seen and Not Heard: Naming Epistemic Injustices in LGBTQIA+ Students’ Experiences of Cis-Heteronormative Midwifery Education

Securing safe and inclusive perinatal care for LGBTQIA+ people is an important birth equity challenge about which LGBTQIA+ midwifery students hold insider knowledge. Drawing on exploratory reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 12 LGBTQIA+ midwifery students and graduates in Aotearoa New Zealand, this study theorizes their experiences using epistemic injustice. Participants report cis-heteronormativity and a lack of LGBTQIA+ curricular inclusion. They also navigate identity-specific stressors that undermine their visibility and silence what they know. Our study affirms the need to harness the epistemic advantages held by LGBTQIA+ midwifery students to inform strategies to progress LGBTQIA+ birth equity.