The paper aimed to examine the impact of shared parental leave (SPL) on breastfeeding practices amongst women returning to work after taking SPL in the UK. Despite considerable evidence of its benefit, the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Drawing on survey data from 161 mothers that took SPL and breastfed, the paper argues that SPL has a negative impact on breastfeeding because of the lack of a national policy on breastfeeding. The lack of a national policy on breastfeeding is reflected in a lack of employer support for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Findings demonstrate that mothers can combine shared parental leave and breastfeeding if they are adequately supported in the workplace. Levels of workplace support can determine how long a mother may breastfeed when they return to work after birth and whether they take shared parental leave. The paper concludes that SPL negatively impacts breastfeeding due to the lack of a national policy and no legal obligation for employers to provide breastfeeding support for mothers. The article recommends a national policy on breastfeeding. While a national policy is pending, for employers to include breastfeeding as part of their equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda.
| Published in | International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 6, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19 |
| Page(s) | 62-69 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Shared Parental Leave, Breastfeeding, Employer, Employees, Workplace Culture
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APA Style
Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi. (2023). Shared Parental Leave: A Key Barrier to Breastfeeding in the UK. International Journal of Law and Society, 6(1), 62-69. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19
ACS Style
Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi. Shared Parental Leave: A Key Barrier to Breastfeeding in the UK. Int. J. Law Soc. 2023, 6(1), 62-69. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19
AMA Style
Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi. Shared Parental Leave: A Key Barrier to Breastfeeding in the UK. Int J Law Soc. 2023;6(1):62-69. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19,
author = {Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi},
title = {Shared Parental Leave: A Key Barrier to Breastfeeding in the UK},
journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
volume = {6},
number = {1},
pages = {62-69},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20230601.19},
abstract = {The paper aimed to examine the impact of shared parental leave (SPL) on breastfeeding practices amongst women returning to work after taking SPL in the UK. Despite considerable evidence of its benefit, the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Drawing on survey data from 161 mothers that took SPL and breastfed, the paper argues that SPL has a negative impact on breastfeeding because of the lack of a national policy on breastfeeding. The lack of a national policy on breastfeeding is reflected in a lack of employer support for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Findings demonstrate that mothers can combine shared parental leave and breastfeeding if they are adequately supported in the workplace. Levels of workplace support can determine how long a mother may breastfeed when they return to work after birth and whether they take shared parental leave. The paper concludes that SPL negatively impacts breastfeeding due to the lack of a national policy and no legal obligation for employers to provide breastfeeding support for mothers. The article recommends a national policy on breastfeeding. While a national policy is pending, for employers to include breastfeeding as part of their equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda.},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Shared Parental Leave: A Key Barrier to Breastfeeding in the UK AU - Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi Y1 - 2023/01/31 PY - 2023 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19 DO - 10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19 T2 - International Journal of Law and Society JF - International Journal of Law and Society JO - International Journal of Law and Society SP - 62 EP - 69 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-1908 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230601.19 AB - The paper aimed to examine the impact of shared parental leave (SPL) on breastfeeding practices amongst women returning to work after taking SPL in the UK. Despite considerable evidence of its benefit, the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Drawing on survey data from 161 mothers that took SPL and breastfed, the paper argues that SPL has a negative impact on breastfeeding because of the lack of a national policy on breastfeeding. The lack of a national policy on breastfeeding is reflected in a lack of employer support for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Findings demonstrate that mothers can combine shared parental leave and breastfeeding if they are adequately supported in the workplace. Levels of workplace support can determine how long a mother may breastfeed when they return to work after birth and whether they take shared parental leave. The paper concludes that SPL negatively impacts breastfeeding due to the lack of a national policy and no legal obligation for employers to provide breastfeeding support for mothers. The article recommends a national policy on breastfeeding. While a national policy is pending, for employers to include breastfeeding as part of their equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda. VL - 6 IS - 1 ER -
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