Mothers' room opened at major shopping center

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)