A mother of three has petitioned the UK Parliament for a change in the law that would give breastfeeding parents paid time away from work to feed their babies or express milk.
Rachael Bews, an entrepreneur from Edinburgh, is calling for a statutory right to paid breastfeeding and expressing breaks, as well as suitable workplace facilities. She says the absence of such a right creates a practical barrier for parents who want to continue breastfeeding after returning to work.
The petition states that “breastfeeding parents in the UK have no statutory right to paid breastfeeding or expressing breaks at work”. It claims this “forces many to choose between feeding their baby and participating fully in work”.
Bews began her Don’t Make Me Choose campaign after she was prevented from attending a professional development programme because she could not bring her then five-month-old daughter, whom she was breastfeeding at the time.
She said the campaign was “not about asking for special treatment”, but about “removing a practical barrier to health, equality and workforce participation”.
“No woman should have to choose between breastfeeding her baby and earning a living,” she said. “Yet that is the choice our current system creates.”
Bews, who founded the Nu Coton marketing agency, said that after speaking publicly about her experience, she had heard from women who had expressed milk in toilets, weaned earlier than they wanted to, lost income, turned down opportunities or left work altogether.
She said the Government encouraged women to breastfeed, while workplace law did not provide a clear right to the time and facilities needed to make that possible.
“This campaign is ultimately about the barriers that force people, particularly women, to choose between opportunity and how they want to feed their child,” she said.
The petition says that more than 10,000 signatures would require a Government response. If it receives more than 100,000 signatures, the issue would be considered for debate in Parliament.
A UK Government spokesperson said employers were expected to be compassionate about allowing time for mothers to breastfeed and to support them when returning to work. However, the spokesperson said the Government had no plans to introduce paid breastfeeding time.
