Women want employees to allow breastfeeding breaks at work
Activists marched to raise their concerns to farmers and retail employers to accord new mothers an opportunity to breastfeed their children during working hours as stipulated in the Code of Good Practice on protection of employees during pregnancy and childbirth.
Dan Mdluli
LIMPOPO – Child and women health activists in the Sekhukhune district municipal area marched last Tuesday in protest against low breastfeeding and heightened severe malnutrition in children in the Elias Motsoaledi and Ephraim Mogale health sub-districts.
According to the activists, the march was to raise their concerns on denial by farmers and retail employers to accord new mothers an opportunity to breastfeed their children during working hours as stipulated in the Code of Good Practice on protection of employees during pregnancy and childbirth.
Tebogo Morotoba, manager for malnutrition in the Sekhukhune district health division, said women working on farms, at retailers and other sectors in the Sekhukhune district, especially in the Elias Motsoaledi and Ephraim Mogale areas, were not allowed by employers to have 30 minute breaks to breastfeed their children during working hours.
“It is stipulated in terms of the code of good practice on the protection of employees during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, which forms part of the codes of the basic conditions of employment, that arrangement should be made for an employee who breastfeeds to have a 30 minute break every working day to breastfeed or to collect milk during the first six months of her child’s life.”
She added that employers at farms, retailers and other sectors in the district ought to provide a nursing facility so that new mothers could breastfeed their babies at work.
“At the very least employers should have fridge storage for breast milk to be kept in. We have also noticed from our data that working mothers are missing child immunisation programmes and follow-up sessions for treatment because they are not allowed the opportunity by the employers in the district. If mothers are allowed to breastfeed or collect breast milk at their workplace, their babies will be less likely to contract illnesses. This will come with less absenteeism and increased productivity and morale as employees’ rights will be respected,” Morotoba explained.
The activists further recom-mended that private practitioners submit their data to local municipalities for the district to be able to plan for child and women health services.
They handed in a memorandum of concerns to the Sekhukhune District Municipality offices, with the request that it be responded to within three months.
Councillor Bella Kupa received the memorandum on behalf of the Sekhukhune District Municipality.Kupa said the district municipality would meet over the matter and see how best the concerns of the women and child health activists could be addressed.
