Demands out of context: Tanzanian women combining exclusive breastfeeding with employment

This research, conducted in Tanzania, involved 6 women and their experiences as they combined exclusive breastfeeding with work outside their home. Additional data were collected at a conference in Tanzania and from women in North America. We found that while public health officials did a spectacular job of convincing the women of the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding in terms of their babies' health and their own, they then left the women to their own devises when it came to solving the practical problems of breastfeeding at the same time as holding down a full-time job. We found that the women had to deal with conditions such as no on-site child care, lack of expressing or breastfeeding rooms, and short maternity leave at most workplaces. In addition, the women suffered the embarrassment of dribbling breasts while working. It seems clear that while cultural norms persist, these women are victims who are taught the imperative of breastfeeding without being given societal and governmental support. Therefore, the obvious next step for health professionals is to work for sociopolitical action that will provide a context where breastfeeding can take its natural place in the growth and development of infants. While structural functionalists might insist that structures in place position breastfeeding as having no normal function in the workplace, the pressure of the World Health Organization, by the shear weight of its international influence, may force a change in structure of the workplace.