Breastfeeding In Public: Advocacy
Breastfeeding mothers in Australia can breastfeed anywhere, anytime. It is always their choice where they feel comfortable breastfeeding their baby outside the family home. To enable them a range of choices, there are three protections in place:
Safe Spaces
In the 1980s, Parents Magazine, in conjunction with the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia, initiated the Babycare Room Award scheme. The award recognised businesses and public places which provided alternatives to women’s toilets for mothers to feed and care for their infants.
Nursing Mums: A History of the Australian Breastfeeding Association 1964 - 2014 details the story:
Baby care rooms. Another NMAA publicity initiative was that of 'baby care rooms'. NMAA Newsletters and group meetings frequently shared tips on how members had managed to feed 'discreetly in a range of public venues. There was a strong sense that mothers should not be obliged to stay at home just because they were breastfeeding, and that in fact discreet feeding while out and about could help to offset the dominant media image of bottle feeding.
However, despite the passage of the Sex Discrimination Act (Commonwealth) in 1984, community censure against feeding in public still existed in some quarters. A South Australian counsellor in 1983 wrote that although the state's own legislation on sex discrimination protected breastfeeding women she had received many phone calls from 'upset
mothers and angry fathers' because they had been asked to stop feeding their babies or leave restaurants." Even for mothers who defied such prejudice. there was a pressing need for comfortable, quiet and clean places where mothers could only breastfeed without interruption but change their change their babies.
This need, along with the opportunity to publicise the Association, led Gael Walker to work closely with the editor of the magazine Parents and Children during 1985 and 1986 to encourage the creation of feeding and changing facilities that would qualify for Baby Care Room Awards. The forerunner of this proposal was a design for 'mothering rooms' that had been drafted by the husband of a NMAA member in the early 1980s and was already in circulation and promoted by the Association. Building on the recommendations for mothering rooms, the Association developed a symbol and list of criteria for baby care rooms while Parents and Children's magazine publicised the initiative and provided materials
Launched in time for National Mothering Week in May 1986, the Baby Care Room campaign was enormously successful. Local groups were asked to investigate how well their local community was servicing mothers needs and evaluate existing facilities. If a decision was made to award Baby Care Room status, the group could make use of a kit which included the Baby Care Room symbol, stickers, wallposters and a press release to attract local media when the symbol was awarded
By September 1986, eighty awards had been made and a list released in March 1987 included infant health centres, Country Women's Association meeting rooms, churches, theatres, town halls, shopping centres and even the Hobart airport.Nursing Mums: History of the Australian Breastfeeding Association - 1964-2014 Jill Barnard, Karen Twigg
Yvette O’Dowd, holding her third child in 1991 as Frankston’s first recognised Baby Care Room is recognised by NMAA
The Baby Care Room Award recognises levels of criteria from basics through to added extras:
Baby Care Room Award Criteria
Private or lockable breastfeeding space
Comfortable seating
Hot and cold water/hand washing facilities
Pram access
Power point for breast pumps/ Phone charger
Separate and assessible change facilities
Products available to clean facilities
Clean and smoke free environment
Disposal units accessible
No advertising of artificial milk for any age
Well signed/ easy to find
Welcoming and appealing environment
Extra features
Separate drinking water available
Free Wifi
Temperature appropriate
Nappies / baby wipes provided
Microwave / kettle / hot water available
Toddler toilets
Secure toddler play area
High Chair
Side table
Community noticeboard
Yvette O’Dowd presenting a Babycare Room Award to Dandenong Plaza in 2012.
Inclusive Environment
Breastfeeding Welcome Here is a global approach recognising of the uncertainty some parents experience about breastfeeding in public. Signage and stickers on entry doors clearly inform all patrons they are able to confidently breastfeed onsite with the support of management and staff.
Rebranded as Breastfeeding Is Welcome Everywhere in 2023, acknowledging breastfeeding is legally protected by Law at Federal and State levels, the Australian Breastfeeding Association program encourages businesses to register by meeting the simple criteria:
To be publicly accessible
To have employees and management with welcoming attitudes
Legal Protection
Breastfeeding is protected by Law in all States of Australia as well as Federally. Mothers who believe they have been discriminated against due their status as a breastfeeding woman can take action against providers of goods and services.
Federal: The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 protects people from unfair treatment on the basis of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, marital or relationship status, pregnancy and breastfeeding. It also protects workers with family responsibilities and makes sexual harassment against the law.
Australian Capital Territory: Breastfeeding is a protected attribute. Discrimination on the basis of breastfeeding is illegal in the areas of: provision of goods and services, accommodation, financial services, employment, sport, education, access to premises, access to membership in a trade or professional organisation, membership of or services in a licensed club, business partnerships, requests for information and unlawful advertising.
Northern Territory: Breastfeeding is a protected attribute. Discrimination or harassment on the basis of breastfeeding is illegal in the areas of education, work, accommodation, goods, services and facilities, clubs, insurance and superannuation. For protected attributes it is also illegal to fail to make reasonable accommodation for a person's special needs.
Queensland: The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person because they are breastfeeding.
South Australia: It is unlawful in South Australia to: treat a person unfavourably in the area of provision of goods or services because they are accompanied by a child or have a responsibility to breastfeed or bottle feed a child.
Tasmania: Breastfeeding is a protected attribute. Discrimination or 'prohibited conduct' is illegal on the basis of breastfeeding in the areas of: education, employment, provision of goods, facilities and services, clubs, state laws and programs, awards and industrial agreements. 'Prohibited conduct' is any conduct that offends, humiliates, intimidates, insults or ridicules a reasonable person on basis of a protected attribute.
Victoria: Breastfeeding is a protected attribute. Discrimination on the basis of breastfeeding is illegal in the areas of: accommodation, clubs, education, employment, goods and services, selling and transferring land, and sport.
Western Australia: Discrimination on the ground of breastfeeding is prohibited in the contexts of: employment, education, access to places and vehicles, provision of goods, services and facilities, accommodation, disposal of land, clubs, application forms, advertisements, insurance (in some instances) and sport (in some instances).
The rest of the World:
The United Kingdom: in the UK, the Equality Act 2010 indicates that to treat a woman less favorably, on the grounds she is breastfeeding, is regarded as discrimination.
The United States of America: Each of the 50 States offers some protection for breastfeeding mothers. In the majority, breastfeeding is protected by anti-discrimination Laws while in Idaho, breastfeeding is excepted from indecent exposure laws only.
European Union countries vary in legal protection of breastfeeding in public, largely because it is culturally normal for women to do so, making legislation generally unnecessary.
African, Asian and South American countries also have traditional acceptance of mothers breastfeeding as they go about daily life and legal protection is not in place.
Middle East countries generally have very conservative cultural beliefs about women’s bodies and modesty, however these do not apply to breastfeeding. The Qur’an guides mothers to breastfeed their children for two years and feeding outside the home is considered a normal part of life.
A word about nursing covers.
Covering mother and baby to shield others from the act of breastfeeding is a modern construct, predominantly in the US. Using a cover is not required by law, can obscure the mother’s view of the infant and restrict air flow, particularly in warm climates. Nursing covers imply breastfeeding is something to hide and has an element of shame.
Continue reading Breastfeeding In Public: Promotion and Campaigns
