Please note this event will be recorded. The program and Zoom invitation is available in the ‘downloads’ tab above or here.

This webinar, to be held via Zoom on Monday 9 November, 7-10pm AEDT will highlight the uniquely valuable and innovative contributions of women’s groups to protecting promoting and supporting breastfeeding, including through mother to mother support and ‘breastfeeding counselling’, but also through their feminist advocacy for necessary cultural and structural changes such as on preventing exploitative baby food marketing, universalising the Baby Friendly Hospital initiative, ensuring adequate paid maternity leave and breastfeeding friendly workplaces and childcare services, and applying anti-discrimination laws including on breastfeeding in public.

The webinar will provide information and insight into the evolution and contribution of grass roots women’s breastfeeding support organisations to creating a supportive cultural and policy environment. This includes through innovative programs addressing structural and institutional barriers to breastfeeding in Australia and across the world.

The webinar will look at such organisations from diverse country settings, such as Australia, Norway, India, Indonesia, and Brazil and among refugee populations in the Middle East. It will explore the key elements of breastfeeding counselling success, the human rights and gender considerations including the resources committed by women and breastfeeding support organisations, as well as governments and other agencies involved in breastfeeding promotion, protection and support.

This webinar is the seventh in the series Human rights, gender budgeting and progressing breastfeeding in 2020. Our purpose in holding the webinar series is to use the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (ANBS) as a vehicle for advancing the human rights, reproductive health and breastfeeding rights of women and children. The ANBS includes initiatives addressing individual enablers such as ‘Universal breastfeeding education, support and information services’ such as through priority actions like ‘strengthening programs that provide mother-to mother support and peer counselling’. It also includes wider BFHI implementation and health professional training as priority action areas.

Details of the first introductory webinar and following series are available here.

We acknowledge and thank the The Gender Institute, ANU for funding. We also appreciate the support of Save the Children UK, and the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative, Breastfeeding Promotion Network Of India.