Background

Across Australia, around one‑third of births are to women born overseas, and this proportion continues to grow. Yet women from migrant and refugee backgrounds face systematic barriers, racism and discrimination that undermine their health, autonomy, and trust in the maternity system.

State of Maternity Care for Migrant Women

Research in Australia shows that migrant women:

Are less likely to access antenatal care in the first trimester and often struggle to navigate an unfamiliar health system.
Face economic and policy barriers, especially those on temporary visas who are excluded from Medicare and subject to long private insurance waiting periods, a clear form of institutional racism.
Experience language barriers and inadequate interpreting, which limit understanding of procedures, rights and choices, and restrict shared decision‑making.

These barriers contribute to worse outcomes than for Australian‑born women, including higher risks of stillbirth, neonatal death and small‑for‑gestational‑age babies. International evidence echoes this pattern: migrant women across high‑income countries report difficulties “finding their way” in new systems, communication breakdowns, culturally insensitive care and unmet psychosocial needs.

Racism, Discrimination and Cultural Unsafety

Studies in Australia and other high‑income settings show that migrant and ethnic‑minority women frequently experience:

Discrimination, stereotyping and cultural insensitivity from health workers, including dismissive attitudes and uniform care that ignores cultural or religious needs.
Structural or institutional racism, for example exclusion from public health insurance, restrictive visa‑linked entitlements, and policies that make access to care contingent on migration or insurance status.
Gendered and racialised power imbalances that make it hard to question providers or refuse interventions, undermining informed consent and autonomy.

Australian research has documented repeated experiences of poor communication, lack of interpreters, disrespect, discrimination and conflicts between traditional practices and rigid biomedical models of care. Similar themes of prejudice, stereotyping, and culturally insensitive care appear in European and UK research.

These failures are not only clinical gaps; they are violations of the right to health and non‑discrimination and contribute to trauma, fear, and avoidance of services.

Why an Organisation Like MCRMC Is Needed

Evidence points to clear, modifiable levers for change:

Culturally competent, woman‑centred care, continuity of carer, and multidisciplinary models can improve experience and may improve clinical outcomes, especially for women at social risk.
Specialist in‑person interpreting, maternal education, social welfare support and removal of financial barriers significantly improve appointment attendance and birth outcomes for migrant women in high‑income countries.
Education for health professionals about respectful, trauma‑informed and culturally safe care can reduce mistreatment and improve communication, though it must be ongoing and embedded in systems, not a one‑off training.

Despite this, reviews from Australia and internationally highlight that:

Culturally safe models of maternity care for migrant women remain patchy and under‑resourced.
Institutional racism and systemic inequities are rarely addressed directly in policy and practice.
There are very few rigorously evaluated interventions co‑designed with migrant women themselves.

A grassroots, migrant‑led organisation such as the Multicultural Centre for Respectful Maternity Care (MCRMC) directly responds to these gaps by:

Centring lived experience of migrant mothers and families as a source of expertise.
Translating a strong but under‑implemented evidence base on respectful, culturally safe maternity care into practical tools, training and advocacy.
Working at both sides of the care relationship—supporting women to know and exercise their rights, and supporting services to confront racism, bias and structural barriers.

In this context, MCRMC is a support organisation as well as a necessary mechanism for research, advancing equity, birth justice and culturally safe, respectful maternity care for migrant and culturally diverse families in Australia.