Mothers' room opened at major shopping center

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi yesterday inaugurated mothers' rooms at a major department store, a railway station and a government agency.

The new rooms are specifically designed to give women greater privacy to breast-feed their babies, out of the glare of the public. The rooms are also equipped with facilities for them to change diapers and also for a brief rest.

Mien inaugurated the mothers' room at Gambir, one of the city's busiest railway stations, but the ceremony was also held to launch similar facilities at Citraland Mall shopping center and the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) office.

TH. Antonius, deputy director of PT Ciputra Development which owns Citraland, said yesterday that the mall decided to open the mothers' room in compliance with an appeal from the government which has been campaigning to encourage mothers to breast-feed their babies for as long as they can.

"We are happy to provide the room for mothers to feed their babies, it's for the convenience of shoppers, especially women who come with their babies," he said. "We could've rented the room out, but we feel that we need to provide more public amenities."

The 21-square meter mothers' room, located on the ground floor, has actually been open since November, and on average five mothers use the facility each day, according to a company announcement.

The opening of the mothers' room at Citraland, Gambir and Bappenas follows the directives issued by Mien's office this year about the need to provide such a facility in public places and offices. The directives came after Soeharto himself launched the movement to encourage mothers to breast-feed their babies in 1990.

According to a circular issued by Mien early this year, there is an increasing need for such a facility given that more and more women are now opting for careers and because of the local culture against women breast-feeding their babies in open public places.

The Ministry of Transportation has also ordered the managements of the country's airports, railway stations and ports to support the campaign. (emb)