I can see why you don't like the negative connotation surrounding breastfeeding throughout the article until the last paragraph. But, what is said is for the most part true. Breastfeeding requires sacrifice in many ways. Sacrifices that women need to be both willing AND able to make.
I think it's an important article, and I think it's something that a lot of women don't think about when they judge women for going straight to formula or weaning after a short period of time. I am lucky to be a middle-class white woman with a job (college professor) that allows me a private office where I can pump. My husband is a stay-at-home dad. I was able to breastfeed my son until he weaned naturally at age two. All of my AP friends are stay-at-home moms and don't have to worry about pumping, etc. It's incomprehensible to them when someone chooses not to BF.
However, I come from a working-class background and have two nieces and a sister-in-law who all declined to breastfeed because they had to go back to work at 9-5 jobs where there is no privacy and few breaks (a cashier, hairdresser, and receptionist). Sure, a really determined woman can fight the system, pump in the restroom, demand a space, go to court, etc. etc. but these are just exhausted women who have no choice but to go back to work and put their babies in daycare.
I seethe when I see women like this judged. If we want breastfeeding to become common and normalized, it's important to think about the issues raised in this article.
ETA: Here is a comment left by a reader of the article that I think really hits the nail on the head:
Quote:
"The point of this column was that not enough employers provide women with the resources (time & space) to pump breast milk. It's great to read so many people commenting that "my employer does", but until there is legislation requiring employers to accommodate breastfeeding (like we have here in Illinois), most women will not have that opportunity. And for many women, going to work isn't about choosing to have a career - it's about choosing to feed and house their family. For those of you who work in Fortune 500 office jobs, stop to consider all the working women who don't get more than their federally mandated 20 minute break a day. Cashiers, waiters, factory workers, janitors, and bus drivers all deserve the same right to pump as the busy executive working in an office. How many readers here hire people to watch their children or clean their home? Would you provide those household employees with breaks to pump? How about teachers - most teachers are barely given time in the school day to go to the bathroom - would you be okay with schools making accommodations in classroom time for teachers to leave the classroom and pump? Until the right to pump is set into law, a lot of women aren't going to get that right."
One of the other issues I saw with this study is that it's a bit out of date. The dates are before the FMLA act went into place as well, so I'm wondering how much maternity leave these women got or were they fired after they had kids. They should repeat the study.
One of the other issues I saw with this study is that it's a bit out of date. The dates are before the FMLA act went into place as well, so I'm wondering how much maternity leave these women got or were they fired after they had kids. They should repeat the study.
Good point, although keep in mind that FMLA is unpaid leave, something a lot of people don't realize. When I had my son three years ago, I had to go back to work after four weeks in order to keep getting paid (four weeks was all the sick leave I had). Everyone kept asking me why I didn't take the 12 weeks allowed by FMLA. Most people were shocked when I told them that it's unpaid leave. Also, while FMLA will protect someone from being fired, and employer is not required to give the returning employee the same job.
I get the article and understand the point; I just don't really like the title. So what can we DO to improve laws? Is writing representatives all you can do? I don't know much about politics.
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