RAAF leads way as first breastfeedingfriendly military workplace
A growing number of employers are becoming breastfeeding-friendly workplaces with
the Royal Australian Air Force becoming the latest organisation to become
accredited.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association accreditation makes the RAAF the first
military organisation in the world to become a breastfeeding-friendly workplace.
Wing Commander Kelley Stewart, who worked with the association to design and
implement the breastfeeding policy, said she was immensely proud to get the final
stamp of approval after a three-year process.
She said there was widespread support for the policy in the RAAF, which has about
4000 female staff, comprising almost one-fifth of the workforce.
“People have been very supportive because beforehand there was a policy vacuum,’’
she said. “It was left to supervisors to make a judgment call.”
A mother of three children aged between nine and 13, Wing Commander Stewart
started looking at breastfeeding rates in the military as part of a research project in
2008.
She was shocked to hear that some military women had been told they weren’t
entitled to breastfeed and had to wean before they returned to work.
Her own experience with the RAAF was positive and she continued to breastfeed
when back at work, nursing her then baby daughter the morning she was deployed to
the Middle East.
Wing Commander Stewart, who is now a reservist, having swapped the RAAF for a
new career as a midwife, was approached to write the organisation’s breastfeeding
policy in 2011.
She said there was mutual benefit in the approach which received formal ABA
accreditation in May.
“Breastfeeding is such a short time in the scheme of things and it really does make a
big difference in retaining and attracting women we need to meet our future
capabilities,’’ she said.
“Women who can breastfeed or express at work take less carer’s leave because their
babies are less likely to get sick and they are more likely to stay with their employer.”
Under equal opportunity laws introduced in 2011, it is illegal to discriminate against
breastfeeding women.
Vice President of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, Susan Day, agreed there
was a good business case for promoting breastfeeding in the workplace.
“It makes business sense at the bottom line,” she said.
“It’s much better for an employer to invest in family friendly practices and retain
valuable employees.’’
About 125 organisations have been accredited, including banks, universities and
hospitals, and another 40 are currently being processed.
To become accredited, companies need to have a policy in place which includes
flexibility for lactation breaks and a dedicated private space to breastfeed or express