1. Introdution 

Today, Sri Lankan women have secured a better place in society as there is equality of opportunity for women in the field of education. As a result during the last two decades, women have secured places in society as much as men do. This is a small step forward in their emanicipation.However, Sri Lanka has not fully free itself from the social ill of male superiority of keeping the woman in subordination. 

The unsurmountable problems are faced by working women once they become motherscause many working class women to give up their jobs. Also, young men at the time of betrothal often exact a condition that their future wives would abandon their jobs and stay at home after marriage. There are also numerous instances when women have been discontinued from service once they consume their maternity leave and find it difficult to attend to their duties as expected by their employers. Also there are instances of women workers either discontinued from service or debarred from promotions as they could not attend to their duties due to the cares of motherhood. These conditions exist not only in the private and public sectors but very unfortunately, in the NGO circles too, which profess to fight for the rights of women, among other things. Some women activists have to leave these organisations once they are married or else keep away from active participation. 

But the women of the upper middle class are not so badly affected by these as they can afford to employ helpers to look after their children. 

It is unfortunate that as a remedy to this situation, poor and lower-middle class mothers have taken to feeding their babies with formula milk instead of breastfeeding them. When we consider medical opinion on the benefits of breastmilk, it becomes imperative for working mothers to fight for their right to breastfeed their children. But it is unfortunate that many Sri Lankan mothers have little idea about this right and they have little facilities to support them. It is also unfortunate that literature on women and their rights does not stress this point. 

There does not seem to be any strong voice in Sri Lanka to say that both state and employers must recognise mothers' right to breastfeed their babies, that it is the duty of society to look after its young, and that both legislative and practical steps must be taken in this direction. Creches have been set up only in a few working places. Many of these have deteriorated and have become places which simply look for financial gains without giving the minimum of facilities to the child. Many organisations and NGOs run nursery schools. But none of them upto now haven directly got involved in setting up creches or in the struggle for this right of mothers. This study becomes more relevant and meaningful as we could interview some mothers who had to leave their organisations in this manner. 

2. Methodology  

This study bears out the grave problems faced by both mothers and children due to non-breastfeeding. This study also will draw the attention of the government, women's organisations, social service institutes to this important question.The study is conducted by two mothers interviewing 50 mothers from a cross section of work fields: 10 from teaching field, 20 from clerical field, 10 from nursing profession, and 10 from labour class. 

3. Experiences of teachers 

Eight school and two university teachers were interviewed. Particulars of 13 of their children have been included in the study. 2 of these teachers had no problem in looking after their children for 3-5 years, as they had their parents with them: but they had no opportunity of breastfeeding them. Seven of the remaining mothers had breastfed their babies only for 2-3 months. Majority has started feeding in milk powder. 

Seven have revealed that their children were underweight and were subjected phlegmatic diseases. One child was taken to the home of a distant relative and as a result it fell ill. The feeding hour, (one hour leave for breastfeeding) though it brought some relief, was not of much use as some were transferred to distant places. Some had to face excessive hardships because to employ a servant paying her round Rs 2000 a month. Some others had to curtail some essential expenses because they had to spend a good sum on milk powder. Only one had mentioned that feeding on milk powder had no bad effective on the child. On the whole, all mothers were aware of the ill effects of not breastfeeding their children. These teachers mentioned instances of other teachers facing hardships by being not able to breastfeed their children. One had it was reported to leave her job to look after the child. All these women see their lack of opportunity to look after their children as a problem and not the inability to breastfeed them. It is simply because they did not have a good understanding of the importance of breastfeeding their children. Everybody was of opinion that laws regulating maternity leave have to be repealed.  

They think that alternate ways they suggest a place of work closer to home or creches at the places of work. They feel that when such facilities are not available, their children's education will be handicapped. Yet another outcome of the above difficulties, many are forced to limit the number of children. While everybody looked forward for well-planned strategy to overcome these problems, some cast doubt on the evolution of such a plan saying that it is not likely as there isn't a plan even to solve the problems of the profession as such.  

4. Experiences of women in the clerical service 

Experiences of 20 mothers and 24 children are recorded. One interviewed had not resumed going to work at the time of the interview. Two had the opportunity of breastfeeding as they were living close to their place of work. Eighteen children were fed on milk powder from two and half months to 5 months. However, the mothers had not stopped breastfeeding completely from 1 to 2 years before going for work or in the night. But nearly 5 per cent of the children had not shown a liking for mother's milk as they got gradually used to milk powder. All 20 mothers had taken to feeding their children on milk powder because their employment did not give them the occasion to breastfeed their children. The following ailments were reported as a result of feeding the children on milk powder. Retarded growth, underweight, phlegmatic diseases, constipation, dental diseases, abdominal problems etc. All had to face economic hardships due to milk powder feeding. They had to cut down other essential expenses in order to save buying milk powder. Only four of the 12 had the good fortune of getting their children looked after their parents, sisters or relatives. The other six had to employ baby sitters. The problems arising from this are grave. Inhibition, stubborness, mental retardation (depending on the quality of the baby sitter) were some of them. In one instance, the servant had used eau-de-colonge to put the baby to sleep. Servants tend to do such things as they are over-burdened with other domestic work that putting the baby to sleep is relieving herself of a burden. In another place, the sister was kept at home to look after the baby and later, she had to be sent back because of a relationship with her husband. In another case, the baby was kept with the grandmother who lives quite a distance away and the mother had to collect her during the weekends. In some of these cases, the amity of the family had been lost. Some mothers had consumed all their leave and had to go on no pay leave. 

There was no consensus among these mothers that regulations pertaining to maternity leave has to be amended. So to the extent of saying that even the father of the child must be given leave to look after the child. 90 per cent of the mothers stressed the need for creches but they have their misgivings about the creches run with mere economic gains in view.  

All are of the opinion that mothers have to organise themselves and try to win their rights. The case of clerks is worse than that of the teachers as the former has an 8-hour day and the latter 6-hour day and enjoys school vacations as well. In some work places, overtime is compulsory and they are forced to do overtime due to financial difficulties. Leave for breastfeeding is a useful thing but many clerks are unable to make use of it. 

5. Experiences of nurses 

The following is a summary of the views expressed by the nurses who have a good understanding of child health and growth. 10 nurses with 14 children were interviewed. Seven of them have both breastfed and milk-fed their children 1-3 years. One nurse who was aware of the dangers of feeding the child no milk powder had been in the habit of substituting other types of food in place of milk powder. She says as a result she has a healthy active and mentally keen child. She also had been helped by the father, her husband in this regard. 

Servant's bottle feeding also had caused problems as they, the servants don't pay much need to sanitary methods. Mothers' work itself had suffered due to the unsettled state of her mind. 

These mothers were of the opinion that both creches and child daycare centres must be run by the state, that laws have to be amended, that nursing hours must be allowed for eight months after child birth. 

It is appropriate to quote the words of two nurses about the demands that mother's organisations must be put forward: "The responsibility of appointing mothers to workplaces close to their homes must be regularised. The government must see that creches are run at the places of work itself. This gives mothers the opportunity to breastfeed her baby and work with satisfaction. Awareness raising programmes on the benefits of breastfeeding must be conducted. It is the grave mistake of the government not to realise that a healthy generation is a must for national development and child care is imperative in this respect. The expected standard of service cannot be maintained as women are unable to breastfeed their children. On the other hand, they are unable to violate the regulations as they are in real economic need. If this position is not changed the future generation will certainly have to reap the ill effects of it. If the child's healthy mental development does not take place in its tender age, we are unable to stop the type of youth unrest experienced some time ago." 

Another nurse had responded that mothers must get organised to win their rights: "Those mothers who travel long distances to work from their home gets only a little time to be with their children. They have very little opportunity of breastfeeding their babies. She who leaves home at 3 a.m. return only in the evening. It is necessary to bring about legislation to enable to get places closer their homes. Mothers must organise themselves to represent matters to the government for the sake of their children and the future generation. In these time, when anti-social forces are prevalent, it will be a great relief if a time will come when parents will get the opportunity of having their work places close to their homes, so that their children will be under their care all the time. This care must start from the breastfeeding age itself." 

6. Experience of working class mothers  

Ten mothers of this class, most of them labourers, with 12 children were interviewed. Eight of them had started giving powdered milk along with breastmilk to their children at four months. Two mothers having left their jobs continued to breastfeed their children until they were nearly 12 months old. 

The mothers complained of their children having suffered from phlegmatic diseases, stomach upsets and underweight. Their income was insufficient to keep a servant. Many of them had to leave their jobs. But they were allowed work once the child was mature. 

They cannot get a substantial wage unless they worked till about 7 or 8 in the night. Therefore, creches which normally closed at 5.30 p.m. did not serve their children. Many of these children were looked after either by the grandparents or a relative. When they did not have either parents or relatives, the children were very often left with the neighbours. 

They all look for creches near their work places but really don't believe that it would materialise. They say that if the time of the existing creches is extended till 7 or 8.m. it would benefit them. 

Some of them have to work all seven days of the week. They admit that they must get organised and parent their demands to the governments. But they also habour a fear in doing so; they are risking the loss of their jobs. 

Survey Findings These 50 mothers cannot be treated as the average mother in Sri Lanka. The experiences of mother of agricultural villages and those of estate workers are not presented here. The experiences of these 50 can be taken as sample of the urban working mothers. How the urban woman faces the problems discussed above could be shown as follows: 
 
 

Mothers whose children were looked after by grandparents or some other relative 25% 

Mothers who agreed 100% to solve their problems either through creches or daycare centres but had misgivings about the efficiency 40% 

Mothers who think that maternity leave must be increased childcare centres opened adjoining their work place and extend the feeding time etc. 100% 

Those who think that they must organise themselves to win their rights but have doubts about getting organised in that manner 95% 

7. Conclusion 

The survey findings reveal the seriousness of the problems facing mothers and children who are not breastfeed. Based on this survey, the organisation recommends the following:  
· literature on the benefits of breastfeeding be widely circulated  
· involve women's organisations and human rights organisations in breastfeeding issue  
· persuade trade unions to demand maternity benefits and child care facilities at workplace  
· more specificallly work towards the rights of working class women  
· to protect women workers so that they do not lose jobs after their marriage  
· change society's attitude to persuade husbands/partners to share housework and childcare responsibilities.