{"id":1730,"date":"2016-11-15T10:09:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T09:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=61697"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:07","slug":"breasts-at-work-thesis-awakens-eur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/11\/15\/breasts-at-work-thesis-awakens-eur\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Breasts at Work\u2019 thesis awakens EUR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the nursing mothers rooms in the Mandeville Building.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Pumping breast milk is a very personal business. You want to do it in a comfortable, clean environment, and preferably with a bit of privacy. And this is one area where EUR doesn\u2019t always deliver. In some cases, circumstances are so dreary that women have even stopped pumping breast milk \u2013 and consequently stopped breastfeeding \u2013 altogether. Arusik Grigorian (RSM) devoted her master\u2019s thesis to this subject, and has caused quite a stir in the process.<\/p>\n

For those readers who haven\u2019t entered this stage in their lives yet, nursing mothers collect their breast milk with a pump\u00a0 to feed their infant at a later stage. In addition to the general nursing mothers rooms in the Tinbergen and Van der Goot buildings, EUR\u2019s individual faculties also offer facilities to this end. Although some do a better job than others.<\/p>\n

RSM\u2019s nursing mothers rooms on the seventh and ninth floors of the Mandeville Building are converted accessible toilets. In T-7, they took the trouble of taping down the lid, but the toilet in T-9 doesn\u2019t even have a lid. There\u2019s a desk chair in the corner, a fridge to store the milk in, and a sink for cleaning bottles \u2013 which is partially covered by a large table in the room on T-9. Hardly ideal, in other words.<\/p>\n

And in breach of the law. Because Article 4:8 of the Working Hours Act explicitly states that nursing mothers rooms have to offer sufficient privacy, have to be clean and have to include a bed or couch that the user can rest on. And that regular toilets are not suited for this purpose.<\/p>\n

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Ignorance rather than unwillingness<\/h3>

\u201cThis sends women the signal that breastfeeding is gross and inferior,\u201d says former EUR student Grigorian, who herself is mother to a little girl of almost 1. Grigorian also pumped breast milk while working on her thesis. \u201cI was genuinely shocked by what the women whom I interviewed for my study \u2018Breasts at Work\u2019 told me. They feel disregarded by RSM, as if their workplace does not allow them to be normal women.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them were so disgusted by the nursing mothers rooms that they stopped using a breast pump altogether \u2013 which means they stopped breastfeeding. How can we still be seeing this in 2016, at a university that attaches such strong importance to diversity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tReferring nursing mothers who want to use a breast pump to the accessible toilet is definitely not OK.\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRSM director Anne van de Graaf\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

RSM is taking these points of criticism very seriously. \u201cOf course, we were aware of this situation,\u201d says diversity dean Saskia Bayerl. \u201cIt has been a point of attention for quite some time \u2013 throughout the University, incidentally \u2013 but so far, nothing has been done about it. Indeed, it\u2019s a difficult and rather personal subject to broach with your manager or male colleagues. In other words, I would call it ignorance rather than unwillingness. As a result, it hasn\u2019t been put on the agenda up till now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now it will. On the one hand, we need to change our culture within the faculty. If we want harmonious relations between the sexes, it is very important to promote inclusiveness and allow people to be themselves. In addition, our recently-appointed Director of Operations Anne van de Graaf will shortly be inventorying what can be done differently or improved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van de Graaf: \u201cReferring nursing mothers who want to use a breast pump to the accessible toilet is definitely not OK. We need to ensure that they feel welcome here. To achieve this, we are examining whether we can convert the current facilities into dedicated, comfortable nursing mothers rooms \u2013 without toilets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother idea could be to use empty offices on floors that we are currently redesigning \u2013 perhaps in a joint project with Social Sciences, who are also set up in this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey simply haven\u2019t given it enough thought\u201d<\/h3>
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Jacomijn Klitsie (doctoral candidate RSM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacomijn, mother of Floris, doesn\u2019t find the nursing mothers rooms at RSM particularly clean or inviting. \u201cThe toilet hasn\u2019t been used in ages, so that it\u2019s quite grotty and dusty. They\u2019ve taped the lid down, but it has actually been pulled loose again. Someone really needed to go, apparently. The nursing mothers room on T-7 is directly next to the coffee corner. This means you don\u2019t have much privacy. Which is a pity.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly since apart from this, RSM is very accommodating to me as a young mother, in terms of flexible work hours and time for pumping milk. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a case of \u2018ill will\u2019. They simply haven\u2019t given it enough thought. Probably somebody decided at one point: \u2018I want to use a breast pump \u2013 I\u2019ll get a desk chair and sit over here.\u2019 After which they called it a nursing mothers room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to swallow a few times when I first saw the room\u201d<\/h3>
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Stella Pfisterer (researcher at RSM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOK, so this is it.\u201d Stella Pfisterer, mother of Maximilian, had to swallow a few times when she first saw the nursing mothers room on the seventh floor of the Mandeville\u00a0Building. \u201cYou\u2019ll find everything you need there. But that\u2019s it. I don\u2019t use the fridge: I don\u2019t feel comfortable leaving my bottles of milk there unsupervised where anyone can mess with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer to use the nursing mothers room at the Partou cr\u00e8che, where I drop off Maximilian a few days per week. It offers a lot more privacy and comfort, with a nice couch and a cushion. It\u2019s more geared towards mothers and children, in other words. Although I do have to walk a bit to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Partou nursing room.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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