Dear all:

Before you read this -- I am headed on vacation and will not be checking email until July 
10th.  So if you wish to email me privately in response to any of my thoughts --- please 
put it in your outbox as a save draft and click send after July 10th.

********************

if I think about the professional aspects of CBCs -- then I still have a problem because it 
sounds like another watered down underpaid profession that will be dominated by 
women. While there are always dedicated individuals that sacrifice themselves to be able 
to do well in a profession that doesn't really pay enough to make a decent living, there 
are many others who become dispirited and cannot do a good job.  I do not feel that 
women should continue to make these types of sacrifices out of the goodness of our 
hearts.

I'm think particularly of social workers and teachers.  

We all know the social worker that still maintains a high degree of competence in spite of 
a case load that is over the top and pay that is ridiculously low.  Yet as my husband 
encounters in his profession as a clinical psychologist -- this leads to other situations in 
which social services will miss cases when a child really needs protection (the horrible 
cases that hit the news) and crack down unnecessarily harshly and take children away 
from their parents.  The structure does not always permit the in-depth thoughtful analysis 
that is needed and it is not the individual overwhelmed social worker that should be 
blamed. 

We also know the stories of the lone teacher in a really bad school who, with lousy pay 
and inadequate support manages to revitalize a class and turn it around.  (And there are 
some You-Tube parodies of this type of individual school teacher).  Yet how many other 
teachers started out with high ideals only to be ground down by poor pay, inadequate 
supplies (most teachers buy their own supplies now) and consistently negative 
reinforcement from principals, politicians and parents alike?  

At the same time as these professions are devalued to the point that the overriding 
political response is that they don't deserve more pay, we have other professions who 
still deserve enormous bonuses even when they have failed spectacularly in ways that 
impact the global economy.

If many private practice IBCLCs are not making a decent living -- then why are we 
headed towards creating another profession at an even lower standard of pay?  It just 
furthers the concept that breastfeeding professionals are merely volunteers (thereby 
ALSO devaluing the important role of volunteerism illustrated by La Leche League) that 
deserve a token salary that no one could really survive on alone.  Volunteerism is 
wonderful.  Having a decent profession is also wonderful.  We need to be paid decently so 
we can AFFORD to volunteer.  The distinctions between the  two should be made clear as 
I think La Leche League International does.

Sincerely,  

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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