Law to protect nursing mothers
Minister backs bill to outlaw breast-feeding discrimination
WOMEN who breast-feed in public could soon be protected from discrimination by law. A group of women is calling for legislation that will protect them from discrimination and shaming for nursing their babies in public.
And they’ve got the attention and support of the minister of health.
The social movement of more than 700 women across the country, which calls itself Normalise Public Breast-feeding in SA (NPBSA), alleges that while it is not illegal to breast-feed babies in public in the country, the reality is that many mothers are scared and ashamed of doing so due to the threat of being mocked and shamed by society.
This has forced many mothers to breastfeed their children out of the public eye; often in unhygienic settings like bathrooms and toilets, and many weaned their babies too soon in a bid to avoid stares.
In a proposed draft bill called the Breastfeeding and Related Matters Bill, submitted
“THEY’RE only nipples; everyone has them.”
So why the big fuss over whether or not women breast-feed in public? Some people the Cape Argus spoke to still feel offended when a woman “nurses” in public.
However, the majority of Capetonians we spoke to feel women should have the freedom to breast-feed whenever andwherever their children’s needs may arise.
Jaen Adams said asking a woman to breast-feed in a restroom would “be like ordering a steak and then being told to go and eat it in the bathroom”.
Jade Johnson felt that people couldn’t feel offended by a woman breast-feeding when they put their “assets on display in skimpy outfits themselves”.
GS Endelani Banda (@real_endelani) tweeted that “breast-feeding has nothing to do with the public, some of the laws implemented are too harsh”, while Bill Rogers (@BroBillRogers) said: “The female human nipple should enjoy the same rights of exposure as the male whether breast-feeding or not.”
Wilma Newhoudt (@newhoudt) felt that “mothers should be free to breast-feed anywhere. I was a breast-feeding mom. Proud of that”.
The group of women calling for legislation to be put in place preventing the discrimination of women who breast-feed in public has received support on the Cape Argus’s social network, with Florence Reddy saying she is “all for it”.
Many feel that women should be allowed to nurse in public without discrimination provided they “cover up”.