Breastfeeding Bodies: Intimacies at Work

Abstract

This paper will combine a review of literature on breastfeeding and work with an examination of feminist theory and theories of embodiment. Difficulties accommodating breastfeeding in contemporary workplaces result from problems with how bodies and intimacies are understood. The concept of corporeal generosity is useful in theorizing the intimate relationship involved in breastfeeding. However, it is also essential to recognize that the labour involved in this embodied, relational practice goes largely unvalued. Womenˈs long association with giving has led to the devaluing of reproductive labour and care work. Reconceptualizing work by rethinking the division between productive and reproductive labour is necessary to allow more space for bodies and intimacies.Keywords: breastfeeding, bodies, intimacies, work, social reproduction B reastfeeding involves an embodied, intimate relationship between mother and child. As such, it confounds dualistic ideas about the separation between mind and body, upon which rests our assumptions about the discrete, independent selfhood of the ideal worker. This paper will review literature on breastfeeding and work with feminist theory and theories of embodiment. It will argue that difficulties accommodating breastfeeding in contemporary workplaces result from theoretical issues with how bodies and intimacies are understood, and that addressing these difficulties requires a reconceptualization of bodies, intimacies, and work.The contradictions for women's participation in the public sphere that breastfeeding poses were identified by feminists in both the United Kingdom and the United States (Blum, 2000;Carter, 1995). There is a substantial conflict of interest between the valuing of maternal bodies and worker bodies. Breastfeeding is a key component of intensive mothering, which requires women to be primarily responsible for childcare, at the cost of substantial physical and emotional labour and financial expense. As Hays (1996) argued, intensive mothering represents a central ambivalence about the individualistic requirements of the contemporary labour market. Despite widespread public health promotion campaigns promoting breastfeeding, there continues to be a failure to appropriately recognize and value the corporeal realities of its practice in organizations. Childcare remains highly gendered while the materiality of lactating bodies is rejected.The concept of corporeal generosity (Diprose, 2002) is useful in theorizing the intimate relationship involved in breastfeeding. However, it is also essential to recognize that the labour involved in this embodied, relational practice goes largely unvalued. Women's long association with giving has led to the devaluing of reproductive labour and care work. Rethinking the division between productive and reproductive labour is therefore necessary to allow more space for bodies and intimacies.The first section of this paper explores how currently dominant understandings of bodies shape breastfeeding practices, limiting recognition of the rela...

Experiences of workplace breastfeeding in a provincial government setting: A qualitative exploratory study among managers and mothers in South Africa

“…Researchers have argued that the perception of breastfeeding as a personal issue is consistent with the view of breasts as private sexual objects. Breastfeeding is associated with an emotional, leaky body that is in con ict with the ideal worker ideology [35][36][37]. The disapproval of breasts in public spaces leads to feelings of discomfort and shame which when combined with non-supportive workplaces result in early breastfeeding cessation as was evident in this study [38].…”

Experiences of workplace breastfeeding in a provincial government setting: A qualitative exploratory study among managers and mothers in South Africa

“…Researchers have argued that the perception of breastfeeding as a personal issue is consistent with the view of breasts as private sexual objects. Breastfeeding is associated with an emotional, leaky body that is in con ict with the ideal worker ideology [40][41][42]. The disapproval of breasts in public spaces leads to feelings of discomfort and shame which when combined with non-supportive workplaces result in early breastfeeding cessation as was evident in this study [43].…”

Crushed between two stones: Competing institutional logics in the implementation of maternity leave policies in Pakistan

“…Although the impact of MLPs on women's participation in paid work (Dahl, Løken, Mogstad, & Salvanes, 2016;Hegewisch & Gornick, 2011;Rossin-Slater, 2017), their relative wages (Baum, 2003;Waldfogel, 1998), and representation in managerial positions and career development (Straub, 2007) has been widely studied, important limitations remain in this line of inquiry. Firstly, with a few notable exceptions (Ashcraft, 1999;Gatrell, 2013Gatrell, , 2014Lee, 2018;Mäkelä, 2012), most research has focused on the formal design and/or organizational adoption of MLPs. Consequently, the micro-social dynamics of their implementation within different organizational settings remain relatively understudied and undertheorized.…”