Last week a young woman came up to me and asked if she could use a conference room. The rooms were booked, so I suggested a study carrel. She confided quietly that she was at an all-day meeting and needed a place to pump her breastmilk. I immediately offered her my office, and she gratefully accepted.
It occurred to me later that even if a study room had been free, this wouldn’t have worked, since all of the meeting rooms have prominent glass doors, (gotta know what those patrons are up to after all!) So, where should libraries direct women who need to pump or breastfeed?
The bathrooms? Aside from the hygiene issues, most public bathrooms don’t have an outlet to plug in a breast pump, or comfortable seating where a woman could sit with an infant.
Think this isn’t a library issue? Think again. We blather on ad nauseum about invisible barriers to using libraries. How about the barrier of being a working woman or student who needs to spend long hours in a library, but who is also trying to breastfeed? This reminds me of a recent discussion in library circles of loud cell phones vs loud babies: if we don’t make accommodations for women with babies we effectively deny them access to libraries. DItto breastfeeding women.
And what about library employees who breastfeed? Look around your library. Is there a clean, private place where female employees could pump or breastfeed? If not, how do we expect to retain female employees through the childbearing years?
The health benefits of breastfeeding are well documented. Theoretically, most of us agree that women should have the right to breastfeed and should be encouraged to do so. But to put this theory into action, we need to ask: do our facilities and policies match our rhetoric?
