Office of Inclusive Excellence Newsletter

March is Women's History month and it invites us to elevate women’s stories not as a theme, but as a practice. The Common Thread is focusing on Women’s Health and Women’s Voices, grounded in reproductive justice and perinatal health equity, because equitable care begins when people are seen, heard, and valued.

In nursing, listening is not passive. It provides the data driving our clinical judgment. It is cultural humility. It is advocacy. When we intentionally listen to women’s voices, especially at the intersections of race, culture, language, disability, and socioeconomic realities, we interrupt bias and create space for safer, more respectful care.

What do we mean when we use the terms reproductive justice and perinatal health equity?

Reproductive justice expands reproductive health beyond individual decisions to the systems that shape those decisions including the decision not to have children. It includes access to contraception and fertility care, safe pregnancy and childbirth, respectful abortion and miscarriage care, and the ability to raise children with adequate support like stable housing, freedom from discrimination, and protection from coercion or violence.

Perinatal health equity means every birthing person has an equal chance at a healthy pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience. Important components facilitating perinatal health equity includes: timely prenatal care, culturally responsive education, trauma-informed and bias-aware clinical encounters, and strong postpartum support for physical recovery, mental health, lactation, and chronic condition management.

This month, we're pairing everyday women’s wellness with a reproductive and perinatal health equity focus because wellness includes being heard, respected, and safe in care. If you're supporting a pregnant or postpartum person (or caring for yourself), remember that the postpartum season is real recovery: bodies heal, emotions shift, sleep is disrupted, and support matters.

Try this (2 minutes): pause and ask, “What do I need right now; water, food, movement, rest, or connection?"  Small check-ins protect wellbeing on busy days.

At a healthcare visit:

Women's Health: Empowering Women to Take Charge of Their Well-Being (13 Minutes)

Washingtonian Magazine named Dr. Aza Nedhari, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Mamatoto Village as Washingtonian of the Year 2025 for her lasting impact on perinatal health equity in the DMV, stating…

     Through home visits, late nights, and unwavering advocacy         for dignified care, Aza has been a driving force in                           transforming maternal health outcomes across the DMV.  

Dr. Aza Nedhari began her birth work as a doula with her friend and Co-Founder Cassietta Pringle (IBCLC) who serves as the Lactation Program Manager. They found that doula training was not culturally congruent with the needs of women of color and decided to develop their own doula training program. Working in the birth space they discovered extreme inequities in outcomes for Black mothers and babies so they created Mamatoto Village in 2013.