Breastfeeding and Work

8 out of 10 respondents state that reconciling breastfeeding and work in a dependent relationship is a difficult task. 65% of the women interviewed who breastfeed and work in a dependent relationship express milk in a toilet. Standing, rushed, hidden, with lack of privacy and in a dirty environment.

National survey conducted by Liga de La Leche Argentina (LLLA) and Voices! which seeks to reveal the situation of women looking to reconcile breastfeeding and work. The study was presented as part of World Breastfeeding Week at Accenture.

Some findings from the study:

• Combining breastfeeding and work requires a network of support both inside and outside the workplace. Partner support is the most fundamental (98%), followed by that of the employing entity (93%), the direct boss (89%), and the paediatrician (85%).
• The perception that the employing institution does not support breastfeeding prevails: 6 out of 10 women think that their employers support breastfeeding little or nothing.
• 2 out of 10 women indicate that their work was at risk if they continued breastfeeding or expressing milk at work and 3 out of 10 state that breastfeeding and pumping decreased their potential for development within the entity.
• 8 out of 10 perceive that women in leadership positions in the workplace did not breastfeed.
• One third of the women had access to some flexibility in working hours or working from home to favour breastfeeding, and one fifth of those surveyed had access to a progressive working hours policy (gradual return to work).
• The lack of breastfeeding culture in the workplace is such that the vast majority indicated that they felt uncomfortable asking where milk could be expressed (73%) and talking generally about breastfeeding with their boss (73%) and colleagues (43%).
• 8 out of 10 women state that there is no place in their workplace for pumping or breastfeeding. In most cases the pumping is done in a toilet (65%), with no chair to sit on.