Tanzanian Women's Experiences of Combining Exclusive Breast-feeding and Working Outside the Home: Living with the Hurdles and the Contradictions

Abstract

Many women realize the importance of breast milk. The literature points out that it protects children against illness (Lawrence, 1995), is cost-effective, increases mothers' confidence and self-esteem, and increases the mother-child bond. Because of this knowledge, many women try their best to breast-feed exclusively, whether they work or not. The issue of mY/AIDS cannot be overlooked. Less than 30% of infants breast- feeding from my infected mothers may be infected, but more than 50% of infants in re- developing countries die of diarrhoea and malnutrition exclusive of AIDS (Lawrence, 1994). Mothers who are my positive must be helped to make informed decisions about whether to breast - feed their infants or not. Those who cannot breast-feed because of poor health, their infants could be breast-fed by infants' aunts or grandmothers who must be tested and proved to be my negative. This family network approach which is common in Tanzania is more realistic in Africa than advising on formula and bottle feeding. , Mothers who are at home with their newborns find it much easier to breast-feed exclusively than do women who work outside the home. This study was conducted in Tanzania, the participants being 6 women who combined exclusive breast-feeding with working outside the home in 1996. The purpose of the studywais to use the women experiences to educate Tanzanian society to support and protect womens' rights to breast- feed in a conducive environment. The feminist methodology and grounded theory used in the study describe this experience. From the analysis it appeared that the essence of their stories was a social process ofliving with the hurdles and the contradictions of combining exclusive breast-feeding and working outside the home. The women dealt with hurdles and contradictions experienced within themselves (such as dribbling breasts), within the workplace (such as no on-site babycare at the workplace, lack of expressing or breast-feeding rooms and short maternity leave), and within the society at large in terms of the cultural norms and gender role.