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There has been a rather heated discussion regarding on-campus breastfeeding and accommodating the like at the small University where my wife works. She breastfeeds our son and plans on doing the same for any future children. The university's cabinet has proposed a policy where woman who breastfeed would have to use leave time, or the BATHROOM, to breastfeed their child or to pump. My wife wrote a scathing message to the cabinet following the proposition. IN reponse, a lady wrote the following:
"...I am also in favor of the policy on breast-feeding. If the new mother
chooses to nurse, there are ways to accomplish this without expecting
special consideration from your supervisor. As this is a personal
choice, with wise use of break times and lunch times and the state of
the art pumping equipment available, this choice can be accomplished as
long as the individual has sufficient leave time. As with any choice,
the benefits and disadvantages need to be weighed before a decision is
made to breast-feed.
The bottom line is that when we accepted a position with ,
we made a commitment to focus on our job responsibilities during the normal
working day and with children at our side that focus is not at 100%. ..."
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I was pissed off. So I wrote this:
"The recent letter from MISS X, regarding the Children in the Workplace policy, is both misguided and patently offensive to breastfeeding mothers. While Ms. X waxes informed regarding the “choice” of breastfeeding, she misses the point entirely when it comes the consideration this University, as well as any other conscientious, forward-thinking employer, should make when dealing with this “choice.”
First, the decision to breastfeed a child is indeed a personal choice each mother must make after the disadvantages and advantages are weighed. The notable pros and cons would likely be the mother’s ability to produce an adequate supply; the mother’s personal beliefs and feelings regarding the practice; monetary aspects; time constraints etc. However, contrary to Ms. X’s assertion, whether or not one’s supervisor is going to accommodate the associated rigors of such a practice should not be one of those contributing factors. In simpler terms, in this new millennium, years beyond woman’s suffrage and battles for equal rights, a mother should not have to decide whether or not she is going to breastfeed her child based upon the fear that her employer will make the process difficult, uncomfortable or impossible. To conclude otherwise would be a regression in equal rights and contrary to the principles of the University’s goal of education and intellectual enlightenment.
Second, Ms. X’s approach regarding the regrettable “choice” to breastfeed one’s child is decidedly counterproductive. She writes “this choice can be accomplished as long as the individual has sufficient leave time.” . What Ms. X champions is a system where breastfeeding mothers would use their leave hours to accomplish the tasks associated with the practice. In other words, the breastfeeding mother is encouraged to miss work. Let me stress this point again. The breastfeeding mother is ENCOURAGED to miss work. One needs no formal education to realize that this engineers LESS productivity from the employee and MORE expense to the employer. Considering Ms. X’s obvious concern for the “commitment to focus on our job responsibilities during the normal working day”, her campaign to produce more sick and annual leave hours for the University to process is curiously bipolar.
Third, the reference to the “special consideration” from one’s supervisor is, at best, hyperbole. The request being made is to provide a place, other than a restroom stall, for a mother to breastfeed her child, or to use the “state of the art pumping equipment.” It is not as though University mothers will be forming a powerful breastfeeding workers labor union, or lobbying for a new breastfeeding “wing” to be added on to May Hall. On the contrary, the only request is that they be allowed to feed their children or pump their breasts in a place where people DON’T urinate.
Finally, it is not the goal of breastfeeding mothers to bombard other University faculty, staff and students with gratuitous frontal nudity or otherwise subject them to children who are obviously “distractive/disruptive to someone…” as stated in Ms. X’s editorial. On the contrary, if the University were to provide just a few locations where breastfeeding mothers were able to do so in private, away from the already “busy and cramped” University workplace, the issue regarding distractions and disruptions becomes decidedly moot.
If I may be candid here...let’s get real people. This is a place of higher education. This is a place where morals and intellect are valued. This is a place where progressive thought is nurtured. By continuing on without a formal, accommodative policy regarding on-campus breastfeeding, this University fails in all of those areas. As the oft-quoted cliché notes…this is not rocket science. It common sense."
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Sorry for the long posting. And I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I don't mean for this to be a flame-worthy subject. I just wanted to see if anyone thinks I was way off base here. I was a little angry and I've been known to go a little overboard.
What do you think?
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