I have been following with interest the debate around NOW and the AAP
guidelines. I am a New Zealander and am currently undertaking a PhD
looking at the interface between breastfeeding and labour market policies
This is becoming an increasingly relevant issue in this country given
the increase in women with infants returning to the labour market. As in
the US, we have no provision for paid leave following the birth of a
child, nor do we have legislation or policy for breastfeeding breaks. We
do have, however, national provision for 12 months unpaid leave. This
means that for many of those women most disenfranchised in labour market
terms, there is little real "chice" over breastfeeding given the need to
resume paid work soon after childbirth - often to jobs that offer little
scope for integrating breast pumping or breastfeeding.

In my research, I have also been exploring the US approach to reconciling
breastfeeding and labour market participation, as American style
initiatives are, increasingly, becoming a feature of our economic
landscape.

My research into labour market policy has also intersected (for obvious
reasons) with feminist concerns both in the US and NZ. I have argued in a
paper entitled "Suckling and Silence" soon to be published in an American
journal "Feminist Economics" (vol. 3, no. 3) that breastfeeding has
represented a site of incredible tension for American
feminists. There appear to be very understandable reasons for this given the
history of protective labour legislation and more recent developments in
relation to gender equality in your country. However, I conclude, along
with various Lactnetters, that feminists can no longer afford to treat b/f
with silence or disdain (or downright hostility) as this fails to address
the underlying structural constraints which confront women who wish to combine b/f and paid work.

Interestingly, while b/f has also represented a site of tension for NZ
feminists, the debate over equality/ difference issues has been nowhere near as
intense or divisive. If anyone is interested, I can point them to various
references in relation to this.

In relation to the NOW statement in USA Today and subsequent comments
from NOW, I would very much appreciate it if someone could e-mail me the
references to these newspots.

I very much enjoy hooking into Lactnet and am glad to see
that there is so much discussion around this particular issue because if
one only read American feminists (or at least those concerned with labour
market issues) it would not be difficult to come to the conclusion that
breastfeeding had become redundant.

Judith Galtry
Victoria University of Wellington
Private Bag 600
Wellington
New Zealand