Allowing women to breastfeed/pump within the workplace empowers women to strive and work harder inside the workplace while still being able to be a mother. For reasons being that for 1, the laws that have been set into place let the woman decide if being a working mom is right for them. For 2 after so many women have had experiences within the workplace and complaints about being uncomfortable women were finally heard. And lastly to see if allowing breastfeeding/ pumping has progressed inside the workplace or decreased the workspace.
Upon doing my research I came across an article titled “Your Rights As a Breastfeeding Employee” by the United States Breastfeeding Committee on kellymom.com which informed me about the “ Break Time For Nursing Mothers” law.
The committee states that law says “The law requires employers to provide break time and a private place for hourly paid employees to pump breast milk during the workday.” in other words The Committee asserts that nursing mothers who are paid employees are entitled to a break for nursing in a room that is dedicated for nursing.
Informing me the law was passed through the federal government lets me know mothers fought hard for change within the workplace. Within this law, employees must maximize the break with gathering materials and being able to have enough time to nurse. The article also states the law was passed in 2010. But within this law it states allowed time during the break “ Time: The law requires employers to provide “reasonable” break time, recognizing that how often and how much time it takes to pump is different for every mother.” What the Committee is saying, is that even though you’re allowed to take this special break it should not interfere with the hours you have to complete at work.
It’s basically giving them a balance between motherhood and work.[ For big businesses, it’s required for them to give mothers a room that’s comfortable where they can do their motherly duties in peace without being judged or feeling like everyone is watching. But within a small business who can’t provide rooms like this must attest to how this will decrease business]. This specific law falls under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Even on their website the committee gives a full guide to this law and explains in detail about every aspect of it for mothers and businesses.
An article by Sophie Brickman, titled “Silicon Valley reinvents the breast pump.” A woman named Cara Dezler described her experience while working at eBay. As a first time mother, she divulged that “I had a really supportive team, I had pumping rooms, the best setup anyone could have, but still it was untenable.” What Dezler is saying is no matter how much support she had it was still uncomfortable. What exactly was the problem? I have no idea but the fact that eBay conformed to her needs was amazing, but then again it could’ve been under the law that required rooms like that. Also inside the article men themselves could not understand so she gave an example as to what the equivalent to pumping is for them. In another article on Washington post.com titled “Women share their stories of pumping at work. It’s not pretty.” women tell their experience with the workplace. Beck broke everything down into 6 sections (Office Environment, Education, Retail, Federal, and Manufacturing) with women’s responses and experiences. One woman by the name “ Germaine Schaefer” wrote in her experience saying “The “pumping room” … was a single-stall bathroom that they stuck a chair in. Because I had an office, I pumped in my office, then I’d clean my pump in the kitchen. There were occasional comments. Had to store my milk in the communal fridge.” As a woman in the workplace, there should be more care and self-dignity within the company to give a nursing mother basic needs. Both articles are plain representations of the good and bad of pumping inside the workplace.
Since the law was passed in 2010, I wonder what was work life like before then. In Becks article, she had a woman who wrote in and expressed their experiences in years before and after the law passed. Beck stated [“… and the stories you shared were startling. Many of you were pumping in conditions that were not only illegal but also demeaning and would likely cause most new moms to stop pumping at work.” ]. Basically saying, women, as nursing mothers were not treated right upon basic needs as a nursing mother. An anonymous woman wrote in but didn’t give her name fear of being fired. she detailed her horrific experience as “ I had a decent, private space, but I was only allowed my break times and lunch to pump. Any time beyond that I took would be without pay. Because I chose not to have my pay docked, I had 15 minutes to get from my desk, across the building, fully set up, pump, store milk and get back to my desk or face being written up for using too much break time.” They used her job against her because as you can tell her company was still “anti” breastfeeding/pumping, within the years of 2011-2012 and 2013-2014, after the law has passed.
After reading so much information between all the articles, I believe the law being passed was way better of a greater cause than it not being in place. But what I will say is some businesses need to be checked to make sure they follow all rules under the law and not try to find some loophole to get around it. The law has helped women get back into the workforce with conformity to being a nursing mother. Life before this law meant women being frowned upon for pumping in public or going to a crawl space in a restroom to pump. Not comfortable at all. Which was why a lot of women chose to either take maternity leave or if by the time they returned to work they stopped breastfeeding. On a website called parenting.firstcry the author by the name of Tian C. list advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding at work. As a disadvantage Tian bullet points expressing “Not all workplaces are going to be mother-friendly, but you can work with HR to help develop a plan that suits your need and create a comfortable and hygienic workplace to express milk in.” What Tian is trying to say is you can be the key to change inside your workplace if you want a “ lactation room” for you to continue being a nursing mother.
Well as much of it as a change for nursing mothers it was also a change to businesses. Some were able to adjust others had to make the best of it. In an article by Annie Johnson titled “Employers prepare for changes to workplace breastfeeding rules,” it states how businesses were shaken up by the law and had to make adjustments. In the article, Johnson relays at least one study by an insurance company that was a high profile win for businesses which was “… conducted by Cigna Insurance, found that lactation support programs within the workplace saved $240,000 annually in health care expenses, resulted in two-thirds fewer prescriptions and saved Cigna $60,000 in fewer missed work days.” Within Cigna insurance study that raised an eyebrow but a good one, little adjustments won’t hurt.
Ultimately, in the end, yes breastfeeding/pumping has indeed changed the workplace. With employers and employee conforming to a law that helps the nursing mother regain their stability at work. No one said it was easy, but it is indeed a process.
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