Wanted: nurseries for working mothers

Wanted: nurseries for working mothers

According to data from the Jakarta branch of the Central
Statistics Agency, the number of working women in the capital is
1,041,366, or about 31.5 percent of the 3,379,202 working people
in Jakarta. However, many offices do not provide day care centers
or special rooms for breast-feeding mothers. The Jakarta Post's
Leony Aurora and Damar Harsanto have been looking into this
issue. This is the first of four articles.

Hesti Purwanti had to lock herself in the library at her previous
office and post a "Do not enter, mother is pumping milk" sign on
the door just to make sure that her first baby was fed properly.

Now, the 34-year-old mother of two can go any time to the
nursery on the ground floor of the Graha Unilever on Jl. Gatot
Subroto, South Jakarta, where she has worked the last two years,
to express her milk in peace.

"I love that there's such a place here. I can express more
often and longer each time, and bring more milk home," she said
on Wednesday.

The room, decorated all in blue, is equipped with a
refrigerator, a sterilizer, a bottle warmer, two cribs and a
couch for mothers.

The company's senior medical advisor, Johny Sulistio, said
offices should provide special rooms for breast-feeding mothers.

"Maternity leave ends two months after delivery, while babies
are expected to drink only mother's milk in the first four to six
months," said Johny.

Many professional women nowadays return to work after giving
birth, either because of financial constraints or the personal
satisfaction they enjoy from work.

Although Article 83 of Law No. 13/2003 on manpower stipulates
that employers should allow women employees to breast-feed their
babies during working hours, the standard on what facilities
should be provided is yet to be set.

"There should be bylaws or ministerial decrees to regulate
this," said Johny.

Jakarta Manpower Agency head Ali Zubeir said the law could be
interpreted either that companies should allow employees to go
home if they live nearby or provide an in-house nursery.

"Of course, not all companies, especially small-scale ones,
are required to comply with the regulation," he said, as it
depended on the companies' financial capabilities.

Most offices do not provide such facilities -- not even City
Hall. Faced with this fact, many women with breast-feeding
infants are forced to make do with restrooms or with any
available empty room.

Anastasia Wibowo, a Unilever employee, said a fellow colleague
disposed her milk after pumping it in the rest room.

"She was afraid it was not hygienic," said Anastasia. "She
pumped out the milk just to release the tension."

Sulistio said the production of breast-milk was influenced by
the environment where a woman expressed the milk. "If she is
uncomfortable, the flow could stop abruptly."

A nursery should have at least a refrigerator, as breast-milk
expires after six hours at room temperature. In a refrigerator,
the milk can keep for up to three days.

Ali promised that an amended city bylaw on manpower would
include the provision of a nursery, but he did not mention a time
frame of the revision.

Large companies, including Bank Indonesia, Indofood and major
banks in the capital should start providing nursing facilities,
he added.