Jonathan: I am not sure if this belongs on Lactnet, but since you brought up the subject . . .

When I wrote about *the male model which decrees that family and business affairs cannot mix,* I was talking about the traditional way in which business has been conducted in our culture and it was not meant to be taken personally. Until comparatively recently, women were all but excluded from most of the business world, although it was OK for them to make the coffee and clean up the mess. I think that its great that you include your son in your work life - I'm sure that you both enjoy the experience. I cannot help but wonder, however, how your colleagues would react if a female co-worker decided to bring and nurse her baby at a work-related activity. For some reason, a father bringing his son to work is considered to be enlightened and progressive, but a mother who does the same thing is considered to be unprofessional. At the beginning of this century unions were fighting for the right for working mothers to have nursing breaks and on-site child care, but such benefits are!
  still few and far between. I thin

k that this would be an appropriate issue for ILCA to support, starting with the right of mothers to nurse their babies at breastfeeding conferences.

Sorry, once I get started on this theme . . .


Norma Ritter, IBCLC, LLLL                       "If not now, when? If not us, who?"
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