When I went back to work after having the boys I had to advocate (hard) to be given space to pump milk; the building manager suggested I use the bathroom (um, that’s a hard pass). So when the opportunity to work on a breastfeeding piece for Scientific American arose I jumped at the chance. Here’s the article!
Our goal was to advocate for every woman to be able to make the right choice for her and her baby and to support that choice by reducing institutional barriers that make it harder for women to balance breastfeeding with full-time scientific work. In this piece, we’ve outlined the issues and offered concrete ways that organizations and individuals can support working nursing mothers.
*These Op-Ed’s are part of a 500 Women Scientists campaign called #SciMomJourney that aim to bring visibility to the challenges mothers in science face when starting or building their families. Tell us your scimom story at https://500womenscientists.org/share-your-story
**These challenges are (for the most part) not unique to science! Consider what you can do to make life easier for the mothers in your workplace. Suggestions in the Op-Ed!