Time to end the debate on nursing mothers

Little wonder then that women are forced to nurse their babies in public. That societal development has not reached the level required to protect the rights and interests of women, means that public awareness is also wanting when it comes to women's rights and interests. If, despite the absence of public nursing rooms, people consider breastfeeding to be a violation of public propriety, they only strengthen the belief that this is still a man's world in which women are second-class citizens.

Over the past few years, some mothers have been gathering on Breastfeeding Day (May 20) to nurse their babies in public to highlight the importance of breastfeeding.

Media reports say the number of breastfeeding mothers in China has fallen dramatically in recent years, so it is important that people realize that mothers shouldn't be further discouraged from breastfeeding their babies.

Since breastfeeding is a necessity for child and mother both, a woman also has the right to decide where and when she should do so. That is to say, a woman can decide to nurse her baby in public even if a baby-care room is in the vicinity, because doing so does not go against any social norm or convention, and should not embarrass others. As for the establishment of baby-care facilities in public places, these should be included in future government regulations. Whether such facilities should be built demographically or geographically may be open to debate, but the fact that women have the right to nurse their babies wherever they deem fit is not.

Lou Huilan is a professor of women's studies at China Women's University in Beijing. The article is an excerpt from her interview with China Daily's Zhang Yuchen.