BEING a mother, especially after childbirth, can be challenging when the times comes to return to work particularly due to the lack of accommodation for their needs.
The lack of accommodations can hinder the return of these women as they want to prioritise their newborns’ care.
However, the Johor government will be setting up spaces for breastfeeding teachers, allocating RM60,000 from the Prime Minister’s special allocation, for six schools in Johor Jaya in 2023, The Star reported.
Johor Jaya assemblyman Liow Cai Tung confirmed that RM10,000 was channeled for the each school to build the “mama friendly” room, providing these teachers privacy and other facilities to aid their return to the workforce.
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“Among the schools involved in the project were SMK Johor Jaya 1, SMK Johor Jaya 2, SMK Taman Molek, SK Seri Alam 2 and Sekolah Seni Malaysia.
“This will definitely encourage them to return and remain in the workforce after giving birth, while also supporting the Health Ministry’s recommendation for mothers to breastfeed their babies exclusively for the first six months after birth,” she was quoted as saying.
Sekolah Seni Malaysia is the latest addition to the initiative.
Cai Tung said each room should have a clean environment, seating area and a fridge to store the breast milk.
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The concept was first introduced by Cai Tung in 2018 when she was previously the state’s Tourism, Women, Family and Community Development committee chairman, which aimed to provide breastfeeding civil servants a designated space while at work.
In 2019, the state’s initiative was officially launched by former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
According to Cai Tung’s research that many careerwomen have had to express milk in various spots at their workplaces including the pantry, prayer rooms, toilets, as well as in their car while some were forced to stop breastfeeding altogether due to their circumstances.
