An international strategy to support the breastfeeding rights of working women  

What can NGOs, governments and development assistance agencies do about the fact that our breastfeeding promotion efforts nearly always neglect the kinds of policies, programs and legislation that are needed to support the breastfeeding rights of working women?  

WABA suggests we develop together an international advocacy strategy. Only 
when norms change around the world will support for breastfeeding be 
recognized as a right for women and babies, not a purely economic issue.  

Outlined below are ideas for discussion as part of the process of generating an 
international strategy to support the breastfeeding rights of working women.  

I. The long-term approach: exclusive breastfeeding as a human right  

1. Establish throughout society a commitment toward achieving universal 
exclusive breastfeeding. In some societies it may be necessary to add to this 
an understanding of the importance to infant development and emotional 
well-being of having one person to form a close attachment to--and thus the 
extra benefit of exclusive breastfeeding compared to exclusive provision of 
human milk. See this link on the importance of mother-infant proximity for other 
things besides breastfeeding.  

2. Raise awareness among men, particularly decision-makers and employers, 
of the important benefit women are providing to society by breastfeeding 
exclusively and of the support they need to be able to do so:  
 

• access to unbiased information on exclusive breastfeeding 
• access to lactation management services when and if needed 
• emotional or so-called "moral support" when needed 
• elimination of their work burden, both employment and at home, in the first weeks after delivery and a substantial decrease in it up to six     months of age (in principle this means paid maternity leave for the entire period of exclusive breastfeeding) 
• nutritional support where needed 

II. Risks to be vigilant for in pursuing long-term approaches  

1. Recognition of breastfeeding as a human right should not result in its being 
imposed on women any more that than the right to vote implies use of force.  

2. Costs for meeting this societal need should be born by society as a whole, 
not only employers. If employers bear some cost, it should be "per employee" 
not "per female employee" or it will result in discrimination against women in 
employment practices.  

III. The short-term approach: helping working women cope when their 
right to breast feed is not respected  

1. Pursue a communication and advocacy strategy to reach the groups 
mentioned above with the human rights message as indicated.  

2. Combine consciousness-raising with action to achieve "short-term approaches"  for example establishing "mother-friendly" workplaces on a case by case basis. At such workplaces, one or more of the following policies/actions could be taken in approximately this order of priority:  
 

• Guaranteed job security for working women who become pregnant, take paid or unpaid leave to be with their babies, or who exercise other rights and entitlements
• At least some paid maternity leave (if possible with an option of a longer leave atlower pay). In some societies, this might be complemented by paid leave for fathers to assist the mother in the period after the birth. 
• Flexible working hours, the possibility to work part-time, and time off to meet the health care needs of young children 
• Access to a creche at or near the place of work and breastfeeding breaks as needed (in many situations this would have to be complemented by access to suitable transport to the workplace before women would be willing to transport their babies to the workplace creche) 
• Where neither paid maternity leave nor a creche are available, access to a clean, comfortable place for expressing or pumping milk, in some countries a place that provides privacy; if possible with a refrigerator or other place for storing for breast milk
• Where mother and baby are separated, lactation management assistance to optimize breastfeeding according to the following: (a) breast feed as much as possible when with the infant, (b) no bottles, particularly not introduced in advance of the return to work, (c) use small cups without feeding spouts for supplementary feeding, (d) no feeds during the final hours before the mother returns home from work, (e) training in milk expression or pumping to relieve distension and/or to provide when mother is away, and (f) sleeping arrangements which allow optimal access to the breast at night. 

Organize informally working women in groups to improve their ability to find 
ways to meet their needs for both work and breastfeeding.  

IV. Risks to be vigilant for in pursuing short-term approaches  

1. Efforts to achieve mother-friendly workplaces should consciously support, 
rather than distract attention away from the long-term human rights approach.  

2. Governments should be aware that even widespread implementation of 
mother-friendly formal workplaces still does not meet the needs (and rights) of 
most women working in agriculture and the informal sector. It also may fail to 
meet the goal of proximity for mother and child unless there is at least six 
months' paid maternity leave.  

3. Short-term approaches usually are paid for by employers, increasing the risk of discrimination against women in employment practices. To reduce this, costs should be taken from insurance provided for all employees, regardless of gender. 

V. Points for discussion  

1. Which of the above actions are most feasible to strive for in your home 
country?  

2. What constraints or risks stand in the way of your striving to achieve more 
ambitious goals?  

3. In many settings, constraints include persons or organizations who consider maternity benefits to be (a) pronatalist (that is, encouraging women to have more babies), (b) damaging to economic goals that require access to low-cost labour, and (c) likely to increase discrimination against women in the workplace. See this page for discussions of these constraints.  

4. Who are likely strategic allies at local, national, regional and international 
levels? What strategies might be useful in increasing the "demand" for these 
measures among working women? What strategies might work to convince 
women's groups, including feminists, to ally themselves with this cause?  

5. In most settings, consciousness-raising to change social norms is necessary 
before law-making is feasible or likely to have much impact. Are there ways to 
work on both in a synergistic or complementary fashion?  

6. Have any countries developed model laws, monitoring approaches and 
enforcement systems?  

7. In some countries, women who want to breast feed still do not have the right 
to do so when and where they want. Women should have the right to demand 
any support they need to breast feed exclusively.  

8. What can be done to increase support to informally working women? Their 
needs can also be divided into short-term (enabling them to breastfeed better 
within their current situation) and long-term (moving them into a more formal 
employment relationship, for example, by doing advocacy among governments 
and employers). Is it possible to work on both synergistically?