With paid maternity leaves, setting up pumping stations and lactation rooms, organizations can support lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding their babies during the crucial phase.
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year between 1 August and 7 August. The World Health Organization advises exclusive breastfeeding of babies till they are six months. Globally, the rates of babies being breastfed exclusively have come down. Organizations play a significant role in ensuring the challenges are overcome by working mothers.
A study titled ‘Women’s and Employers’ Experiences and Views of Combining Breastfeeding with a Return to Paid Employment: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies’ published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health in 2021 discussed the challenges women face when it comes to breastfeeding for women returning to work:
- Women encountered a range of physical and emotional challenges to breastfeeding on return to paid employment.
- Women experienced gender and employment inequalities when accessing support to continue to breastfeed.
- Some employers considered that providing breastfeeding breaks would not be cost-effective for their business.
- Women’s right to breastfeed during paid employment requires the implementation of breastfeeding-friendly workplace policies.
- Workplace education that aims to improve employers’ and employees’ attitudes about the need to support colleagues who are breastfeeding is urgently needed.
India had over 63% of babies below 6 months being exclusively breastfed, as per the NFHS-5 survey for 2019-2021.
Highlighting the roles of organizations, Best Companies for Women in India, a yearly gender analytics exercise conducted by Avtar in association with Seramount, illustrates the support rendered by companies for mothers returning to work.
All top-10 and 100-Best companies in the BCWI list offer maternity leave, and it is a maximum of fully-paid 26 weeks for the top 10. The initiative enables mothers to continue breastfeed till the baby is six months.
Companies on the lists undertake initiatives like setting up pumping stations for mothers and nursing rooms to encourage breastfeeding. The options for remote or flexible working hours are effective means to ensure they get the support to continue breastfeeding.
As the study finds ‘pro-breastfeeding environments with supportive employers, partners, and families enable women to combine breastfeeding with paid employment. Such support also has a direct impact on women’s workforce participation.’
