THE Bahamas National Breastfeeding Association (BNBA) is urging the government to ratify United Nations Convention 183, which would ensure the rights of breastfeeding mothers while on the job.
During a one-day seminar held on Wednesday, the association laid out some key points supporting the move. The event was held under the United Nations theme: ‘Step Up for Breastfeeding, Education and Support.’ In attendance and delivering remarks were the Director of Labour Robert Farquharson, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Labour and Immigration Keith Bell, and Ann Marie Davis of the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister.
Mr Farquharson said that although the convention has yet to be ratified by the government, steps are being actively taken to include it in the Employment Act.
“We are recommending that statute law be amended to ensure that buildings have a special room so that nursing mothers have a place to breastfeed or pump for up to 12 months after the delivery of a child,” said Mr Farquharson. “We want to ensure that not only is it enacted by law but also reflected in the policy and procedures in government ministries. After additional consultations with partners and other stakeholders, we want to make some recommendations to the government to see how quickly the convention can be adopted in The Bahamas.”
Spouse of the Prime Minister, Mrs Davis said that she fully supports the move and encouraged efforts to move forward with getting the convention adopted by the government. She also encouraged women to breastfeed their infant children. Describing lactating mothers as “meals in heels,” Mrs Davis said that this is one of the best gifts a mother could give to her child.
“Breastfeeding is a vital source of nutrition and according to the United Nations, it contributes to over $3.2 billion of the world’s gross domestic product,” said Mrs Davis: “It fosters higher IQ levels, attaches to sustainability issues, and has minimal ecological footprint.”
She also said that more effort should be made to raise the number of breastfeeding mothers.
“We are in a battle to raise breastfeed mothers from 18 percent to 50 percent. It must be done collaboratively and cooperatively,” said Mrs Davis. “If we need a healthy nation, we need to go upward and forward, and we need sufficient support to be able to meet this objective.”
Chairperson of the National Tripartite Council, Cheryl Martin, also delivered brief remarks. She said that steps must be aggressively taken to pass laws to support breastfeeding in the workplace.
“Women face so many issues after returning from maternity leave: they have nowhere to express their milk, or have to resort to unsanitary conditions to do so. They need a safe place to store the milk once expressed, nurseries must be baby friendly, maternity leave should be extended to 20 weeks. We also need paternity leave for fathers and ongoing training and compensation for lactation managers,” said Ms Martin.
She also said that Convention 183 was passed by the International Labour Organisation since 2000 but, to date, has not been ratified by The Bahamas.
Comments
carltonr61 1 year, 6 months ago
This issue of breastfeeding moms is as old as God, life and civilization. The role of women was to breastfeed has always been set aside as special and primary for every society to grow. The chief protection of the child is the Sacrament of marriage which at one time also assured freedom to mothers to breastfeed. The workplace is a 180 degree line. Mothers need to work and the boss is watching his profits. To maximize profits globally may unions saw factories become taken over by robots. Robot machines work 365/24. The workforce pressures upon a mother carries the load of a hurricane knowing she has to abandon her child herself being in 99.9% of cases here in The Bahamas, half to 3/4 breadwinner. But her boss wants her back on the job ASAP and resents her pregnancy and loss of money without production. In a USA poll, female bosses were most cruel against females even for monthly pain downtime. Westernized civilizations oppose those that place mothers at home to breastfeed and nurture families away from the workforce as anti female and 100% discriminatory even to the point of staging destroying cultures though government overthrows. Western governments found the answer to female delinquency by enforcing transsexual hiring. THAT female wont even go through mood swings. Westernized female away from home civilization structures have become sewers of daily murders, gang violence and uneducated youths as a price. The UN has used its immoral Westernized agenda based Global Female edicts to promote criminalizing husbands, and homolove orientation for population control. and selfish consumerism spending over being fruitful and multiply. Even The Holy Pontiff last week begged for an increase in birthrate. Europe has learnt as The Bahamas that migrant cultures create their own home nation mini states. . .
joeblow 1 year, 6 months ago
... to me this is moronic and blurs the lines between a person's personal and business life. In order for a mother to breastfeed her child on the job she would have to take her child to work with her. There are other options like expressing milk and freezing it so the child can continue on breast milk. The gender pay gap is an issue for most women and this may be one reason why. Employers pay for productivity ON THE JOB!!
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