Promotion, protection, and support of breastfeeding at work, and achieving sustainable development: a scoping review

Abstract

This article aims to map promotion, protection, and support strategies aimed at working women who breastfeed and their potential impact on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 5 (gender equality and women’s empowerment) and 8 (decent work and economic growth). This study is a scoping review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework, whose searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Social Science Research Network, and Open Knowledge Repository databases. This study’s search obtained 576 publications, of which 33 were included in the study. The narrative synthesis was organized into three axes: 1) promotion; 2) protection, and 3) support for breastfeeding in the work context. Actions aimed at women who breastfeed at work have the potential to directly achieve SDGs 5 and 8, and indirectly achieve SDGs 1 and 10. Increased breastfeeding rates also help to achieve another four SDGs (2, 3, 4, 12). Actions aimed at working women who breastfeed can contribute directly and indirectly to the achievement of eight of the 17 SDGs, and should therefore be encouraged and reinforced.