This issue addresses a current socially silenced issue: the grief that accompanies perinatal loss. The social imaginary thinks of pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium in positive terms, however, pregnancies are often unsuccessful or miscarried and do not go to term, may terminate spontaneously during the first months or the foetus may die late in gestation or even during or immediately after birth, leaving women and couples in a situation of grief that is often not acknowledged by society. Women may also decide to have an abortion for a variety of reasons, almost always a difficult and painful decision. In this issue, coordinated by Dr. Josefina Goberna, contributions are presented as a result of the research project PID2022-140179OB-I00, together with contributions from national and international authors from Spain and Latin America (Chile, Colombia and Uruguay) who complement us with valuable contributions on the subject.

This issue addresses from a wide and varied perspective aspects of the training of health professionals and their professional practice, as well as the subsequent impact on the diversity of women and problems that are addressed in obstetric and gynecological consultations, all within the scope of the care relationship, both from a historical, anthropological, ethical, political and social perspective.

New technologies and social changes affect all aspects of life, including women’s health, which is why constant changes are needed in the legislation that deals with them, as can be seen in this issue, which deals with aspects such as gamete donation, the reform of the abortion law or the need to update vaccination schedules.

However, this forward-looking approach should not make us forget the complex and often dramatic situations that exist beforehand and are lacking in attention: male violence, both in the recovery of the victims and in their detection during pregnancy, attention to the “silenced” perinatal losses or respect for natural childbirth care with its return to home care.

With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the health system had to adapt, as a matter of urgency, to the care of pregnancies and childbirths in a health environment collapsed by the care of Covid patients. After a few months, we find ourselves in a «new normality» or «post-pandemic», a scenario which some of the changes that affected our daily lives have remained in force. In this new context, «caring for life» takes on a new meaning and a need for rethinking. In this issue of Musas, coordinated by Josefina Goberna-Tricas, we address these changes both in the field of women in senior executive positions, as well as in those dedicated to the care of the elderly and vulnerable, and in health occupations, applying an intersectional approach. We conclude with a couple of training proposals that undoubtedly constitute a substantial contribution to the development and incorporation of new paradigms and models in professional practices in the field of healthcare.

At the end of 2019, a new global situation appeared that has kept the planet in a state of alarm: the SARS-COV-2 threat. Profound changes have occurred in everything related to healthcare and life in general. This issue of Musas presents papers that explore and analyze the experiences of women and health professionals during the first wave of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. At the same time, it deals with other important issues that have stayed relevant during the pandemic, although they have not always been given the attention they required. Among these, we can highlight obstetric violence, care after pregnancy loss, gender bias in healthcare or the healthcare demands arising from the new family structures, such as the induction of breastfeeding in women who have not given birth.

This issue presents the work of eight authors who address women's health processes from a Latin American context, tackling health and disease situations from a feminist and situated rights approach. The topics covered address in a broad and comprehensive manner various aspects of sexual and procreative health: from giving birth or regulating fertility in pandemic times to home birth care or the vision from the users of social networks, without forgetting gender inequalities, informal care, the positioning of obstetric students before the legal termination of pregnancy and also considering a forgotten and silenced topic such as urinary incontinence in women.

The concepts of “vulnerability” and “woman” are inextricably linked. Even in the twenty-first century, the full autonomy that guarantees respect for their dignity as human beings and as women has not yet been fully achieved. Following the last issue, we continue to explore women’s vulnerability in various fields and contexts. While continuing to focus our attention on all those aspects related to reproductive health, in this issue we also delve into other areas such as the critical reading of art or gambling addiction in women.

In November 2019, the journal MUSAS Revista de Investigación en Mujer, Salud y Sociedad launched a call for papers for a monograph dedicated to the notion of vulnerability in its broadest sense. We received a broad response with paper proposals by authors from multiple academic backgrounds and geographical contexts. As a consequence, we will also dedicate the next issue to the notion of vulnerability in relation with the themes of the journal: women, health and society.

The coronavirus pandemic that has been affecting us globally since December 2019 has put vulnerability at the center of our priorities. It has shown us, in a dramatic way, how a disease can defeat us in the most unexpected way, posing important challenges to society in general and to the health system in particular.

The notion of female empowerment is a complicated one, as the term does not have a unique and univocal meaning. Rather, it appears as a broad, unspecific and polysemic concept. In 1991, Schuler and Hashemi defined it as «the process whereby women increase their ability to establish their own lives and environments; an evolution in women’s awareness of themselves, of their status and their effectiveness in social interactions».

In this issue, we address, from a legal and pedagogical perspective, the potential for emancipation that women acquire throughout their lives. Additionally, we deal with how health care can contribute to said emancipation by respecting their informed choices and by giving support to those women that suffer violence.

This issue addresses the topic of violence against women during pregnancy. The two issues of MUSAS: Revista de investigación en mujer, salud y sociedad of 2019 have approached power relations exercised on women’s bodies during pregnancy and childbirth that seek the obedience and submission of female bodies, either as a violence exercised by the partner (gender violence) or as an institutionalized violence exercised by health institutions (obstetric violence). In addition, the editorial of this issue discusses another kind of violence: bullying on LGBTI youth.

Relating pregnancy and violence may seem contradictory, since, in the collective imagination, giving birth and pregnancy are usually associated with satisfaction and personal fulfillment. However, some studies indicate that up to 20% of women can suffer violence infringed by their partners during pregnancy, what is known as «obstetric violence». The articles presented in this issue derive from the papers presented in the «Third International Conference on Gender, Ethics and Care: Making visible the violence toward women during pregnancy», held in Barcelona in May 2018.

Nowadays in the Western world having a child and therefore becoming a parent is though of as a conscious act of personal choice and fulfillment. Thus, the idea of «natural motherhood» is lost and, as a result, conceptualized in the social sphere. Conscious motherhood and fatherhood have become responsible motherhood and fatherhood. In this issue of the MUSAS: Journal of Research in Women, Health and Society, we address several aspects related to sexual education in adolescence in terms of gender equality, the role of training in the strengthening of maternity processes that are closer to the families, as well as some issues related to practices in the context of sexual and reproductive healthcare.

The conceptual models of health and illness have changed throughout history. Indian Ayurveda or Chinese Traditional Medicine were based on the complex energy patterns that govern the Universe and their influence on human beings. In the Western world, the increasingly numerous Faculties of Medicine –founded in the Renaissance– monopolized the knowledge on health and illness, whereas women healers, which kept using integral care solutions based on natural medicine, were accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake by the Inquisition. Although some western philosophers and scientists kept carrying out their research from a holistic perspective, considering body, mind and spirit simultaneously, this way of thinking started losing weight to chemical medicine and the separation between “mind” and “body”. During the 20^th century, the allopathic health model completely outran the traditional healthcare therapies.

However, from the 1960’s onwards, the disappointment of the population at the methods of allopathic medicine resulted in the revival of the concepts of “harmony, balance, integral health…”. The articles of this issue of the journal Musas: Reseach Journal of Women, Health and Society, coordinated by Maite Miranda García, discuss natural and complementary therapies which might be applied on women during the stages of the reproductive process.

All discriminatory practices against women are linked to physical, psychological and/or symbolic violence.  Today feminism is a multifaceted and plural reality, marked by a critique of dualisms (mind/body, nature/culture, man/woman, etc.) and the affirmation of a correspondence between all forms of oppression (sexism, racism, social oppression and the control of nature…), together with the feeling of having to survive in a patriarchal context defined by life-threatening conditions. This issue of MUSAS discusses all these topics dealing with the oppression and violence against women.

In Western countries, maternity can be considered a secure and healthy process. Fortunately, mortality and morbidity rates are extremely low. Thus, both maternity and paternity become a life goal in individuals’ life narratives. However, sometimes we forget that, notwithstanding these good figures, the process of becoming a father or a mother is not entirely risk-free and some health problems may arise. This issue addresses several complex situations that might occur during maternity: anxiety in pregnant women with fetal growth restriction, postpartum depression, caesarean section, newborn malformations, as well as gynecologic pathologies. In these scenarios, the empowerment of women and an adequate preparation of pregnancy and childbirth become a matter of paramount importance.

En España en los años de la dictadura franquista ser mujer significaba la subyugación a maridos o padres, así como, una educación segregada y enfocada al servilismo. La necesidad de  consentimiento marital para poder realizar trámites burocráticos, la inexistente capacidad legal para decidir en ciertos temas de salud o la precaria planificación familiar eran aspectos habituales de la vida cotidiana de las mujeres. Éstos son algunos ejemplos de la innumerable lista que llenaba el significado de ser mujer en ese contexto histórico; pero en ninguno de estos puntos encontraríamos trazas de autonomía o libertad ni como mujeres, ni  como parturientas. Afortunadamente, en la actualidad la mujer puede expresar sus preferencias, deseos y expectativas sobre el proceso del parto y nacimiento mediante su “plan de parto”, pero a pesar de las mejoras en términos de autonomía en la toma de decisiones, las mujeres pueden presentar preocupaciones y miedos ante el parto; la identificación de éstos permitirá a los profesionales de la salud personalizar los cuidados a la situación emocional de cada mujer.

Son las matronas los profesionales de referencia en la atención al parto normal, pero llegar a ser matrona implica un tiempo previo de formación, y este período no se encuentra desprovisto de responsabilidad legal, de ahí la necesidad de protocolos de actuación.  La transmisión de conocimientos técnicos y actitudes éticas tanto durante el período formativo, como mediante formación continuada y actualización, a lo largo de la vida profesional,  se convierte es fundamental en el saber hacer y en la definición de las competencias profesionales en la atención a la salud de las mujeres.