This report addresses key questions concerning the effectiveness of midwifery education in preparing midwives to meet the needs of women from minority or disadvantaged groups in England. Chapter 1 sets out the methodological context within which the work was undertaken and provides an overview of data sources and sample sizes. Chapters 3 and 4 review relevant literature relating to the project, with Chapter 3 focusing on the conceptualization of issues of inequality and disadvantage and Chapter 4 concentrating on how health care policy approaches inequalities issues, midwifery policy, and education of health professionals. Chapter 5 presents findings of a national survey of pre- and post-registration midwifery education curricula relating to inequalities and disadvantage. Chapters 6-8 explore findings from studies of midwifery education and practice in three very different parts of England. They illustrate the reality of providing midwifery care to service users from a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds and reflect on how education prepares midwives to meet the needs of these different service users. Chapter 9 adopts a developmental focus, considering the findings in light of potential changes to education and practice. It outlines an "inequalities imagination," a concept developed during the study, and offers midwives a way of critically thinking about inequalities issues by drawing on debates around anti-discriminatory, anti-oppressive, and reflective practice. (Contains 233 references.) (YLB)