FROM: Sturgess, Frances Coulter
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SUBJECT: brfdg in the Military/Time mag Feb 24
DATE: 02-19-97   13:45 EST
PRIORITY:


Thanks for posting the excerpt from Time re Cuevas/lawsuit/wanting to
brfeed/be released from her commitment as a pilot.  I need to see the rest of
this article, but, my main reaction after sympathy and concern is that in the
civilian world, if a woman finds her employer unsupportive (so uncommon,
right?) she can quit and take the consequences.  (I wonder if there are other
instances where a woman broke a contract and had to pay etc todo so...Any
legal eagles on these lists?)  But I have some other thoughts as well before
shooting a letter off to TIME.

1) what happened to the "mandatory" maximum allowance of 4 mo maternity leave
(paid or unpaid) employers are obligated to honor that (Ithought) was Federal
Law?  Is the army exempt?
2) Was she flying planes in her 9th month?
3) She/the Army must have had no idea how brfdg affects mom/infant bond/health
etc before they drew up that "commitment"--given how young you are when you
enter West Point, AND how non-mainstream brfdg more than a few days is, this
is no surprise.
4) I sympathize to some degree with the Major who switched to ABM at 6 weeks
and called Cuevas "selfish." I think she would have liked to stay home with
her babies too but did not consider it an option.  She did an incredible job
getting that far, I think, but in our efforts to liberate women, and make
their opportunities "equal" to those of men, the babies have been awfully
closeto being thrown out with the bath water, to quote an adage. (Anyone here
watch the TV show JAG?  a few weeks ago the whole story was women carrier
pilots, capable/incapable, one of the "guys" and "not")
5) As to changing Army policy--I think they used to throw you out if you got
pregnant, that has changed. I don't know how they handle maternity leave.  I
think to get *intentionally* pregnant/have children when you know it will
significantly interfere with your capacity to do the work you have chosen to
do is wrong, but the *best* of intentions do not always work out, and
*obviously* the consequences are not always clear either.
6) I think this is an OPPORTUNITY for Lactation supporters/Change the World
Nurture a CHild folks (hi Chris) to rally and speak out for breastfeeding
support in the workplace!  Bring out the broader issues--even if the case is
lost, the PR op is there.
7) As to the peacetime army concept--well.  An army is supposed to be ready to
deploy at the drop of a hat, so I do not personally think that is a helpful
argument for changing the terms of employment.  I certainly hope we have no
more wars, but IMHO, if you are not out there training in your fighter or
whatever, you are a liability to your team.  However!
8) Do we have any idea what sort of LC/counseling this woman has had to bring
in her milk supply/nurse at night etc that Many Other Working Moms have had to
deal with?  I gather from other posts that CHAMPUS/military health doesn't
cover such services.  If they had them maybe this would have been less of a
problem--another OPPORTUNITY.

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