Education Week - March 20,2019 - 24

COMMENTARY

18
AN OPEN LETTER TO
WHITE TEACHERS

20
WHAT SCHOOLS
GET WRONG

21
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We Are Failing Teacher Moms

Melody Newcomb for Education Week

By Jessica Lee & Liz Morris
rom buying classroom supplies to
working long after the school bell
rings, teachers make countless sacrifices for the sake of other people's
children. Few ever imagined they'd
also be asked to sacrifice the wellbeing of their own children, but
that is exactly what is happening to
many teachers who breastfeed. As the national wave
of teacher strikes and walkouts moves into a second
year, there is one important issue of dignity for teachers that has been left out of the conversation: breastfeeding accommodations.
"By mid-day my boobs were so full that I just began
leaking everywhere-soaked through my shirt and
sweater," Catherine, an elementary school teacher, told
us during our new study on breastfeeding discrimination through the Center for WorkLife Law at the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
While Catherine was willing to swallow the indignity
of pumping in a closet or being walked in on by her colleagues, not getting any pumping break was too much
to bear. "I started thinking, I'm here teaching these babies basic life skills, and I don't even have the time to
provide my own baby with food for survival."
In schools across the country, teachers like Catherine
can be found huddled in closets, balancing their pumps
awkwardly in toilet stalls, and hiding under their desks
with their breasts out. "It is hard enough to find five
minutes to take a bathroom break," said one elementary school teacher we interviewed. "Pumping four
times a day as a teacher is the hardest, worst, most
stressful thing I've ever had to do," said another.
Many teachers are left with no choice but to quit
breastfeeding. Others, like Catherine, quit their jobs.
Nearly two-thirds of all mothers who brought breastfeeding discrimination cases against their employers in
the last decade lost their jobs, either because they were
fired (43 percent) or forced to resign (20 percent), we

found in our study. Those who didn't lose their jobs outright often suffered other economic harms, like being
forced to take unpaid leave.
Breastfeeding parents who are not provided reasonable accommodations also face health consequences,
including illness, infection, and diminished milk supply. Some are forced to wean their babies earlier than
doctors recommend. Infants who are not breastfed face
worse health outcomes, including higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and childhood leukemia.
Their moms are at greater risk for breast cancer and
heart disease.

Nearly two-thirds of mothers
who brought breastfeeding
discrimination cases in the last
decade lost their jobs."
Despite the harsh consequences of breastfeeding discrimination, federal law does not adequately protect
breastfeeding teachers. Due to an unintended legal
technicality, teachers are excluded from the protections
of the Break Time for Nursing Mothers law, the federal requirement that employers provide workers with
pumping space and break time. Because they aren't
covered by the law, many teachers struggle to get the
basic accommodations they need.
Although other federal laws, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Title IX, prohibit firing or harassing a
teacher because she is breastfeeding, those laws cannot
be reliably counted on to provide break time and space
to pump.
Given the federal government's failure to provide
adequate rights to teachers, some states have stepped

24 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 20, 2019 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary

in to fill the gap. Twenty-one states and the District
of Columbia have laws clearly requiring break time
and space for nearly all workers, including teachers.
Other states have added to the patchwork: Texas and
Montana cover public employees, while Louisiana and
Virginia have passed laws specifically to protect breastfeeding educators.
Many administrators already realize the benefits
of providing private pumping space and break time.
Doing right by breastfeeding workers has been proven
to reduce turnover, lower healthcare costs and the
number of sick days taken, and boost morale-it ultimately saves money and keeps educators in the classroom. But all teachers deserve the dignity of breastfeeding accommodations, not just those fortunate
enough to have an administrator with this foresight.
Including teachers, 27.6 million women of childbearing age in this country do not have the basic legal protections needed by all breastfeeding workers-a clear
right to receive break time, space, and other reasonable
accommodations.
In our recent report, we outline common-sense policy solutions to help teachers walk out of their closets
and into clean, private pumping spaces. These include
establishing clear space requirements that take the
guesswork out of accommodating pumping workers
and ensuring laws can be enforced in court. Critically,
breastfeeding laws must cover workers in every industry and job title, including-at long last-teachers.
Providing basic accommodation for breastfeeding
teachers is just one small and affordable way to give
teachers the dignity at work they deserve. n
JESSICA LEE is a staff attorney and LIZ MORRIS is the deputy
director at the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law. They are co-authors,
along with Joan C. Williams, of the 2018 report "Exposed:
Discrimination Against Breastfeeding Workers." Educators
and administrators with questions about legal protections for
expressing breast milk at work can contact the Center's free
helpline at (415) 703-8276.

http://www.edweek.org/go/commentary

Education Week - March 20,2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - March 20,2019