World Breastfeeding Week: Dia Mirza Says Not Enough Safe Spaces For Indian Women To Breastfeed In Public.

World Breastfeeding Week: Dia Mirza Says Not Enough Safe Spaces For Indian Women To Breastfeed In Public.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the hypocrisy surrounding motherhood gets me so angry. On the one hand, women are constantly bombarded with the messaging that motherhood is the most beautiful experience and parenting is like God’s work, and so on. But on the other hand, all that ‘parenting babble’ goes out the window when some husbands are asked to share the load. What’s more, society literally scuttles away from any discussion on the issues women face during and after pregnancy in raising their children. Take breastfeeding, for example, which is still a natural biological act that triggers shame and judgement towards new mothers who are simply trying to feed their babies. And new mom Dia Mirza has taken the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week to share her two cents on this sorry situation in our country.

 

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A post shared by Dia Mirza (@diamirzaofficial)

Actor Dia Mirza and her husband Vaibhav Rekhi welcome their first child, a baby boy they named Avyaan, in May this year. Dia had previously revealed in an Instagram post how this pregnancy had its own set of complications that could’ve been life-threatening. The doctors had to do an emergency C-section and the little one was born prematurely.

This month, as we celebrate Breastfeeding Week around the world, the new mom is talking about how, in India, the act of breastfeeding in public is still seen with judgement. And that is why, we need more provisions, such as safe spaces in public where women can breastfeed, to dismiss this shame associated with the act.

 

 

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A post shared by Dia Mirza (@diamirzaofficial)

“I have become more acutely aware of the lack of safe spaces for new mothers, especially if they are socially and economically marginalised. Why have we never highlighted how hard it is for underserved mothers to feed their babies on construction sites, farms and roadside stalls without any privacy?” she told Mid-Day.

Also Read: Breastfeeding And Bollywood: Can We Desexualise Lactating Mothers, Please?

Dia Mirza further cited some facts to support her argument, the biggest being the advice from the World Health Organisation that states that mothers should breastfeed their newborns for at least the first six months. In failing to do so, we are risking higher malnutrition and infant mortality rates.

She suggested we take cues from countries like Belgium, which have implemented policies that have helped reduce the shame surrounding breastfeeding in public, which in some countries can also be labelled public obscenity.

“In Belgium, breastfeeding in public is protected by law, but in India, we need to bring about a systematic shift in societal attitude. Feeding a child should be considered a natural act, but it triggers so much shame and judgment when done in public,” said Dia.

Recently, Neha Dhupia too spoke up about the need to desexualise breastfeeding, which if you ask me, is a bigger problem in India. We’ve seen all the controversial cleavage stories in newspaper headlines and paparazzi photos, and we know that even if they come with a feeding baby attached to the, women’s breasts are too sexualised in Indians’ minds. Blame it on the repression that is caused by a lack of proper sex education and the taboo surrounding any conversations about sex and biology. Perhaps, simultaneously we need to destigmatize and desexualise breastfeeding in the Indian society.

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Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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