When babies joined their mothers in Parliament

When babies joined their mothers in Parliament

Mangalore Today News Network

New Zealand PM Jacinda Arderns, who has is on her maternity leave, is all set to become the first leader to deliver a baby while in office, since Benazir Bhutto. While there has been much speculation over Ardern’s double duty as a Prime Minister and a mother, she has stated that she will breastfeed her baby as long as possible while handling the office.

Ardern is, however, not the first woman politician to have saddled the double duty of looking after their babies and conducting their work duties. The topic of having children, breastfeeding them and caring for them, has been a hotly debated one, more so when it comes to politicians. However, things are changing and more mothers are bringing their children to the parliament.

Larissa Waters: The Queensland MP made history when she became the first woman politician in Australia to breastfeed a baby while Parliament proceedings were going on, in 2017. Larissa Waters was moving a motion on black lung disease while feeding her baby, and the video went viral. She received mostly positive reactions, which she said, showed that Australia had come a long way in terms of accepting women breastfeeding in public.

Jytte Guteland: A video of Swedish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jytte Guteland trying to stop her eight-month-old son from grabbing the mike, while she gave an impassioned speech about famine in war-torn countries, went viral in 2017.  Gutteland has also brought her son to the Parliament to vote on several occasions. The MEP has spoken about the need for making the Parliament more child-friendly so that a baby could be brought along whenever needed. As per the European Parliament rules, while Members are entitled to upto six months of maternity leave, they cannot send a replacement for voting, hence requiring many new mothers to attend Parliament with their babies.

Licia Ronzulli: Former Italian MEP Licia Ronzulli’s daughter Vittoria is quite familiar with the workings of the European Parliament, having accompanied her mother many times. Ronzulli first brought her daughter to work in 2010, when she was just six weeks old. She was quoted as saying, “We’ve been doing a lot of work in the European Parliament and there was no interest [from] the press. Then I come with my baby and everybody wants to interview me.” While Ronzulli explained that her move was not a political one, but a maternal one, it helped to throw light on maternity leave policies and employment rights for women, across the world.

Krishanti Vignarajah and Kelda Roys: Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Krish Vignarajah and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kelda Roys chose a distinctly different, yet natural, route in their campaign ads. While Krish starts her ad by breastfeeding her baby and then talking about how there is a dearth of women in state and federal elected office in Maryland, Roys spoke about BPA – the toxic chemical which is in baby products and has been proven to be harmful, and how she had worked towards passing a Bill to ban BPA.

Victoria Donda Perez: The Argentinian human rights activist and politician, who at the age of 30 became the youngest person ever to become a member of the Argentinian National Congress in 2007, caused much discussion after she chose to breastfeed her eight-month-old baby while a Parliament session was going on. While some appreciated her bold move of bringing attention on working mothers, others criticised her for acting inappropriately and indulging in publicity.

Carolina Bescansa: A five-month-old baby caused much furore during a Spanish Parliamentary session in 2016 when MP Carolina Bescansa of the anti-austerity party Podemos, decided to bring her child along. While some supporters praised the MPs efforts of carrying on with her maternal responsibilities while handling work, her critics called it an act of gaining attention, bringing attention to the fact that there was a nursery in the Parliament.  Bescansa also had to face flak from women’s organisations such as Federation of Progressive Women, Women for Equality and the Women’s Foundation, which stated that the MP had “perpetuated the idea that it’s a woman’s job to care for children,” rather than sharing the responsibility with the other parent.  Courtesy: Yahoo News