In many societies, the role of the woman is minimized. Until the recent appearance of technological innovations such as pregnancy tests, pregnancy could only be confirmed by women themselves, who had priviliged access to the sensations of the baby's movement inside their bodies. Such beliefs and practices provide women with some control over pregnancy, while leaving intact the high value placed on fertility in these cultures. Many cultures ritually proscribe the consumption of certain foods during pregnancy, and encourage that of others. Across cultures, such prescriptions and proscriptions reflect variations in cultural understandings of the symbiotic relationship between the mother and her baby, as well as the importance of their wellbeing to their society's future.
Midwives provide prenatal care in most countries.
In many cultures, the success of a pregnancy is thought to depend on the observance of ritual behaviors by a woman's husband. In some parts of rural Greece, men loosened their belts toward the end of their wives' pregnancy to promote an easy birth. In some South American cultures, a man observes the same food taboos as his wife during pregnancy, retires to a private hut attended by male companions when she goes into labor, and mimics her labor pains. European and North American fathers show their identification and involvement with their partner's pregnancy through attending childbirth education classes and accompanying her during labor and birth, and sometimes through developing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain which disappear after the birth. These NRTs, which separate the act of conception from its relational context, make it possible for post-menopausal women to bear children, and for one child to have multiple biological parents.