Thanks, Rachel, for pointing out so well how out of touch the US is with the rest of the world (the norm) when it comes to maternity leave, etc. It does seen ironic, even sad, when there is so much emotional output for one phase of the life cycle while ignoring the needs of the next phase. I think a big part of the problem stems from the "equal has to mean identical" mentality. Offering things like extended maternity leave (even the term extended here indicates a misplaced norm) or even time or facilities to pump at work are seen as giving an advantage to women that isn't given to men. No thought to the fact that the one who really benefits is the baby! While some might argue with some aspects of the "it takes a village to raise a child" idea, I think we have to recognize that assuring a healthy next generation benefits everyone. There has been some publicity recently about organizations of "child-free" adults complaining that they wind up paying for benefits to those who chose to have children and they shouldn't have to support because they choose not to have children. This includes schools, parental leaves, etc. Just who do they think is going to take care of them in their old age? Who will be the travel agents, resort personnel, etc to help them with their high lifestyle since they haven't "wasted" money raising children? How the next generation is raised, and that certainly includes giving them the best possible start by breastfeeding, will affect every one of us, not just those who are the parents of that generation!!! Winnie Mading *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html