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Friday, September 01, 2006

i want bitty, too

jodi kantor writes this excellent piece about nursing mothers in today's new york times. it's a must-read. the nut is, essentially, this:

As pressure to breast-feed increases, a two-class system is emerging for working mothers. For those with autonomy in their jobs -- generally, well-paid professionals -- breast-feeding, and the pumping it requires, is a matter of choice. It is usually an inconvenience, and it may be an embarrassing comedy of manners, involving leaky bottles tucked into briefcases and brown paper bags in the office refrigerator. But for lower-income mothers--including many who work in restaurants, factories, call centers and the military--pumping at work is close to impossible, causing many women to decline to breast-feed at all, and others to quit after a short time.
of course, if you don't feel like reading about it, you can see proof of (the first half of) her premise here:


6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Completely true. If I had gone back to the school where I was teaching last year, my option would have been to pump at a desk in the middle of the department office or in the bathroom shared by students across the hall....and that's in the female-dominated teaching profession.

~Brooklyn Girl

9/01/2006 3:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

Where do you FIND this stuff??

9/01/2006 10:27 PM  
Blogger Shal said...

HOLY SHIMOLY!!! THat is freaking hilarious.. and I bet the breast nazis would think THAT was okay too...

9/01/2006 11:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Wife is still pumping at the office, and after 6 months of it the senior partner at her firm still gives her a dirty looks as she makes her way to and from the lounge.

9/04/2006 1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"pressure" to breastfeed? from where? as far as i can tell the popular culture is still all about formula, with the shitty maternity leave policies (for both educated/successful and not) to make true, kid-on-mom feeding(not on pumped bottle) well nigh impossible.
I have a friend from Sweden (where they get a year and a state-paid doula, I believe) having twins here soon. Since she works for a small company, no FMLA for her. Six weeks, and adios kiddos.

9/05/2006 4:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've returned to work trying to continue nursing/pumping multiple times. I've been a part of BOTH of those classes. It is so very true.

What kills me is that even those the staunch breastfeeding advocates KNOW about this - they know how disadvantages many working moms are, no workplace support, no money for a good pump, no ability to take breaks to pump - even though they KNOW this intellectually, they will continue to taunt those who fail about their "flimsy excuses" and give the "Well, if I did it, then anyone can do it." nonsensical attitude. The whole thing gets me all fired up. And evidently, when I'm fired up I write run-on sentences. LOL

9/06/2006 2:08 PM  

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