I have been enjoying the discussion about mentoring,and professional
clinical training,  and especially appreciated the note from the potter.
(name is escaping me).  The fact that money is not what we go into this
for is true at this moment, but if we have any hope of becoming a
professional addition to the health care team, we need to behave as
such, and to come in with the attitude of adding to the picture, not
apologetic for the things we cannot provide.  Barbara Wilson Clay's note
was especially good, as well. I think that women in general work and do
not expect to be treated professionally, with commensurate pay for our
knowledge and expertise. Why are the  majority of IBCLCs not well paid
for their expertise? Because society does not value the service. And the
culture does not support breastfeeding, to simplify things.

We cannot have it both ways. If we want to be professional, our training
has to be professional as well. I can think of parallel issues in
nursing, etc.  Women often settle for less, and that is why women in the
US are paid someplace around .70 on the dollar for the same work a man
gets $1.00 for.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, and I paraphrase, one cannot be stepped on if
one does not lie down first.

Kathleen Bruce RN IBCLC

Kathleen Bruce RN IBCLC
Independent consultant: Breastfeeding Clinic of Vermont, Lactation
Resources of Vermont, Medela, Inc.
Listowner Lactnet listserv
[log in to unmask]
Archives: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/lactnet.html

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html