What does it mean to be a feminist? It means kicking the can down the road so other women can live their best lives. Whether you identify as a feminist or not, you've absolutely benefited from the work other feminists have done on your behalf. If you're a pregnant mother who will return to work after your baby is born, you have a radical feminist opportunity coming your way - breastfeeding.
How to Breastfeed: Our step-by-step video
Strong women have made great strides in establishing women's equality in society and the work place, but we have a long way to go. The women's rights movement is far beyond proving women are just like men. We're not. We're women and we have unique and exceptional societal and familial roles. Having the same rights as men isn't anywhere near enough. Sure, we do the same jobs men do. We carry our own weight, earn our own living and stand on our own two feet, but we also do things men will never do. We have the babies and breasts.
Unlike women in the 60s who were fired for getting married and prohibited from working during pregnancy, women today work right up to their due dates. Thanks to the work of earlier feminists, we have a right to maternity leave and a job to go back to when that leave is over. But, once maternity leave is over, (and for most American women that's a measly twelve, unpaid weeks), we have to either give up breastfeeding or hope to keep it going by pumping at work, on breaks, in the bathroom and under the scrutiny of coworkers and bosses who often resent accommodating lactating breasts on the job.
That's why many American women breastfeed for only a few weeks to months instead of the full year recommended by The American Pediatric Society and World Health Organization. No one disputes it's the best way to feed a baby and most moms start out intending to meet that goal, but without the right support and infrastructure, breastfeeding while working is incredibly difficult. Sure, many employers and coworkers are supportive, but far too many resent that breastfeeding mothers need extra breaks and privacy to pump and a place to store the milk. Seriously, that's all it takes to successfully combine breastfeeding with work.
Working Girls: Going back to work after maternity leave
That all-too-common lack of support is why, for many working mothers, breastfeeding is a luxury, not a right. It's why many women switch to formula. They want to breastfeed, know it's best for their babies and far more affordable for their budgets, but they have to work and breastfeeding on the job isn't easy for many American women to do. Breastfeeding shouldn't be an elite privilege extended only to women who either work at supportive workplaces or stay home with their babies. It should be a right that every mother can choose if she wants to.
How to breastfeed and still have a life.
That's where mothers delivering babies now come in. Whether you identify as a feminist or not, it's up to your generation to take charge of women's rights from here and part of that will be making it possible for women to work and be mothers without suffering reprisals on the job. How are we going to accomplish that?
- By educating people about the benefits of breastfeeding.
- By insisting all babies (who are the next generation of employers, employees and citizens after all) have access to the best care and nutrition.
- By demanding employment policies support all breastfeeding mothers- not just on paper but in practice.
- By being generous and supportive to your own employees and coworkers who breastfeed.
If mothers like you kick the can forward, our daughters won't have to make the same difficult choice mothers have to make today - to breastfeed or to work. Women can do both. Now's the time to make it as natural and normal as it is for women to vote. Being a feminist today means kicking that can with our breasts.
Read More from our Labor Nurse:
Breastfeeding Guide For The Whole First Year
How to Breastfeed: Our step-by-step video
