Lucky you. Yesterday it was all about different methods of birthing. Today it’s about breastfeeding.

Only it’s not really about breastfeeding. It’s about justice. A colleague in Presbyterian Women shared an article with me today about the “two-class” system that exists for working mothers who are also trying to nurse their babies.

The basic gist of the article is this: While doctors and public health officials insist that “breast is best” (I didn’t make it up; that’s a real slogan), society is structured in such a way that only makes breastfeeding accessible for working moms in mid- to high-level professional jobs. For working-class women, however, breastfeeding becomes almost impossible.

Why? There are no policies in place that provide working-class women with what they need to breastfeed their babies. The main way working moms provide breast milk to their babies is by pumping at work, and bringing their milk home. Working-class women are not provided the time and the space necessary to do this. The article cites a Starbucks employee who had to pump her breast milk in the customers’ restroom, all while counting down the minutes until her short break was over.

In my opinion, this was the most poignant line of the article:
“It is a particularly literal case of how well-being tends to beget further well-being, and disadvantage tends to create disadvantage — passed down in a mother’s milk, or lack thereof.”

Well-being tends to beget further well-being, and disadvantage tends to create disadvantage. This is how the world is—but is it how the world should be?

I claim that it is not. When the prophets speak of the world that God envisions for God’s people, themes of justice and equality abound. A society in which well-being begets further well-being and disadvantage creates disadvantage is exactly the kind of society God railed against through the prophets:

“Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and claves from the stall…. You have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.” (Amos 6:4, 12)

Jesus calls us to follow him. If we are to answer that call, part of what that means is joining him in what he says the Spirit of Lord anointed him to do:

“The Spirit of the Lord us upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Women who cannot currently breastfeed their babies because unjust policies are currently in place do not need our charity. They need justice. They do not need a breast pump drive or a public education campaign as to why “breast is best.” They need us to stand with them in demanding adequate breaks and adequate space so that they can breastfeed.

The poor, the blind, the oppressed—none of these need our charity. They need us to walk alongside them, in Jesus’ footsteps, and to overturn systems of injustice that make charity necessary.

Noelle

I would encourage you to read the article I have alluded to in its entirety at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/health/01nurse.html?ex=1157774400&en=73902774845d88ce&ei=5059&partner=AOL