Breastfeeding Legislation Analysis

The audience intended for this paper are mothers that have a desire to breastfeed, employers, clinicians, breastfeeding advocacy groups and federal and state legislators involved in policy change.

As more women in the United States join the workforce, policy needs to reflect and benefit these working mothers. This creates a balancing act between gender equality, a popular issue amongst political candidates, and paid maternity leave. America cannot expect to have one without the other.

Breastfeeding in public has become a problem today. I’ve heard many arguments of for and against breastfeeding. I see many arguments that are against women breastfeeding in public. I am against breastfeeding in public. All the talk about breastfeeding in public has become more relevant to today’s society because people have admitted to being uncomfortable with public breastfeeding. Women say that people are “shaming” them, but really people are wanting respect from the women who make us feel uncomfortable. I agree that breastfeeding is a very natural thing in child birth, but I do not want to see another woman breastfeeding while I am eating dinner or going for a jog in the park. I believe that breastfeeding should be done behind closed

Today there are two countries in the world that do not currently guarantee paid maternity leave for employed new mothers and/or expecting mothers, those countries are the United States and Papua New Guinea, according to the International Labour Organization, an United Nations agency, which recommends a minimum 18 week maternity leave (Rubin 2016, p.1). In recent years, the controversial issue of guaranteed maternal leave has been a prominent topic of debate amongst political activists and elites, particularly in the United States, where reform is a feasible option but has yet to be achieved. It is this absence of policy that serves to provide guaranteed maternal for all working mothers that has been linked to significant health related issues; these adverse effects not only impacts those mothers, but their children as well. Although paid maternal leave remains a controversial matter, policy reform that implements such leave is not only a feasible option in the United States, both economically and politically, it is an ethical necessity in order to facilitate the well-being of American women. Thus, in order to work toward ethical political/governmental policy that supports the well-being of women in the United States’ workforce, it is crucial that guaranteed paid maternal policy is implemented.

This paper explores three published articles that report on how many women lack job security when working while pregnant. Many are either denied the special accommodations or forced to quit their job. The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) is a bill currently pending in Congress, that would help to end any type of discrimination towards pregnant workers and ensure that they would be able to continue working to support their families. The articles all agree that the PWFA would put in place rules and guidelines for employers to follow that would help protect the job of the pregnant employee. Brown (2016) states that much has changed for women in the workforce during the last half-century, but treatment of pregnant workers remains frustratingly

Breast-feeding was introduced in the 1800s as an alternative to avoid deadly illnesses that were travelling from Spain, Middle East and Asia. In the 1860s scientists began supplementing animals’ milk as formula; especially for mothers who were not able to breast-feed. By the twentieth century, the United States “experienced a sharp decline in breast-feeding rates for infants and toddlers” (Lerner, 2006, p. 362). The reason for decreasing rates in breast-feeding were due to breast-feeding was seen as public indecency, mothers were headed back to work, and mothers were not encourage to breast-feed their child because some people saw it embarrassing. Due to not enforcing laws that were established for breastfeeding mothers; mothers are not comfortable to breast-feed in public from indecency exposure law, allowed flexibility to feed infant during work hours and also protecting a mother’s well-being to breast-feeding in public without embarrassment.

The concept of the FMLA was set in motion through debates over a California law mandating maternity leave for childbirth, which is discussed in greater detail in the “Government” section of this paper. After a federal district court struck down the law in 1984 as sex discrimination against men, Congressman Howard Berman, a Democrat from California, sought help from the National Partnership for Women & Families, then the Women's Legal Defense Fund, in framing a bill that would require employers to grant maternity leave (115). Instead, the National Partnership submitted the idea of a broader leave that would not only meet the needs of new mothers, but address a wider range of work/family conflicts affecting both women and men (116).

Pregnancy and early child development is a fundamental aspect of human society, and is pertinent to the development of a successfully functioning community. The developmental and social progress of any civilization relies on children, as they will compose the future working population. Therefore, a mother or father’s involvement in the child’s development is of extreme importance, which is why family leave has been implemented all over the world. Family leave refers to the period of time granted to the employee to care for their newborn child. As communities evolve economically, financial stability is necessary, for what is perceived to be socially successful for a child’s development, which is why paid family leave is popular throughout the world’s nations. However, ABC News reports that “the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave” (Kim, 2015); the same is true for paternity leave. The United States government has an interesting track record dealing with family leave, but in order to analyze what the US government and advocacy groups have done to solve this issue, there first needs to be an understanding on why this issue is so difficult to resolve. The arguments that support and oppose paid family leave in the United States are equally valid, therefore causing a stalemate in the attempted policy making of legislative bodies.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (2015) recommends all women to breastfeed in order to improve infant health and to prevent potential adverse health outcomes. This paper proposes a breastfeeding education policy to increase the rate of breastfeeding among African American women that will lead to improved overall health for these women and their infants. This will consequently ease the health

The Urban Institute published a case study that promotes the creation of national paid family leave policy in the United States. In the study, it is shown that this issue has been debated countless times in the past. George H.W. Bush even vetoed an unpaid family leave act during his presidency. This displays the struggles of enacting policy relating to this issue. The lack of a national paid family leave program in the US has left working mothers with three options: “return to work immediately after childbirth, quit employment, or take unpaid leave” (Urban Institute, 2017, p.3). The issue with these options include, loss of pay, unemployment, or the lack of parental presence in a child’s early development. Moreover, although some private companies offer paid leave, less educated and lower income mother have little access to this paid leave, which exacerbates their financial instability, keeping them in a lower societal class. This study found that not only is the current system is inadequate, but it is also inequitable, which causes financial hardships across the nation. According to the study, there has even been a 32% decrease in income after childbirth. Although this is the current situation, some states have enacted a statewide paid family leave program, which displays

Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.

Throughout time and history women are perceived as a housewife, mothers, and givers; while men are breadwinners, fathers, and receivers. Women have strived to change this stereotype for years, and while sometimes this stereotype disappears for a subtle moment, it always will resurface. Especially, when it comes to maternity leave. Men and women are given an equal amount of time to care for a newborn, but somehow the father returns to work in a matter of days. Why is that, you may ask? It is because America has generalized American into their known stereotype. And because of this, we see men returning to the workforce in a short amount of time. Men, along with women, should have a paid extension from the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for their child, create the bonding link between child and parent, while tearing down the stereotypical assumption wall between man and woman.

The Family and Medical Leave Act was created in 1993. President Clinton signed the FMLA Bill to ensure families the possibility of their job being secured when returning to work and to continue an income while caring for their newborn. However, I learned that some employers have the option to not participate such as small businesses with 50 or less employees. Still in today’s society, this is a huge problem for many working women.

There is a direct relationship between the amount of leave one is granted, and breastfeeding rates. In a 2010 study it said the US could prevent 900 deaths of infants and save 13 billion dollars per year if 90% of women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life. As of 2010, only 43% of babies in America are breastfed for six months. Women are not able to breastfeed exclusively due to the high demands of work. Some believe that updating the Family Medical Leave Act will create debt but the findings of this study say it can actually help the economy and save lives.

According to The Equal Opportunity Act and the US Department of Labor, a mother should be able to breastfeed her child in public and in her place of work. Even when it is a protected right, public perception varies on the delicate issue of whether or not a nursing mother should meet the necessities of her child in a public place. If babies have the right to eat and people do not complain or judge when a baby is being bottle-fed in public, then mothers who choose to breast feed should have the same right. Many people are not well informed of the all the benefits that breastfeeding offers the child, mother, and, even the public.