Note from the Field: We need to talk
Close your eyes and picture a Lactation Consultant. What do you see? My guess is that the majority of you pictured a woman, most likely white and probably over forty years old. Close your eyes again and picture yourself at a conference for lactation education. What do you see now? If you are anything like me, you see a room full of women of all ages, races, ethnicities and backgrounds – most likely sitting in a large, poorly ventilated, nondescript room listening to a white, male doctor. We need to talk about this.
Breastfeeding support is premised on the notion that all women and child bearing people deserve informed care to support their decisions of how and when to feed their children. It also holds that women are experts of their own bodies – intuitively understanding that breastfeeding is natural and normal and should be the default mode of infant feeding. Doesn’t it logically follow that women are also in the best position to share and teach this information?
Why then are male doctors the leading voices in our field? Why are male doctors the ones who book the biggest conference rooms and pull the largest audiences? I propose that it is because our field is subscribing to a patriarchal model of expertise. By doing so, lactation consultants are actively undermining our own agency and inadvertently contributing to the perpetuation of systemic inequity in the sphere of public health.
As most people practicing within the United States are intimately aware, our country has a long way to go with regard to gender equity. Women are paid less for the same work, are penalized for having and raising children and are consistently told their bodies are not their own. These disparities are even more pronounced at the intersections of race and immigration and socio-economic status. This is because patriarchal and white supremacist models insist that white men are more valuable, more educated and more capable than everyone else. And, unfortunately, this toxic cultural lens is so pervasive it even infiltrates lactation support — a field overwhelming dominated by women, predominately serving women. By holding up male doctors as the leaders of our field we are ignoring the voices of those who should be the loudest. We are telling women that, in fact, they are not experts of their own bodies and destinies but rather, they need men to lead the way.
People may argue that being a good clinician does not necessitate having personally experienced the condition. While there are many wonderful oncologists who have never experienced cancer, the fact is that people don’t invalidate cancer care like they dismiss lactation support, which is often seen as a luxury for those who are able to afford it. I have to wonder if the way our country dismisses and devalues the very real work of birthing, breastfeeding and raising children is actually perpetuated by the way in which our own voices as providers are being dismissed. If we can’t advocate for our own voices to lead the conversation, how can we possibly hope to advocate for the voices of our clients?
So I ask again: why are we so comfortable letting men speak for us?
Fellow supporters of breastfeeding — next time there is a conference or online course released I challenge you to seek out opportunities being offered by women, especially those offered by Black women, by young women, by indigenous women, by women from other countries, by those with non clinical backgrounds. Make sure to read and support research conducted by women. Buy text books written by women. So that the next time we find ourselves in a large, poorly ventilated, nondescript room, the person standing behind the podium will fully reflect the providers sitting in the audience.
And for the men reading, I challenge you to pass the mic. Ask for gender equity in conferences and on panels so your voice isn’t the only one being heard. Make sure your female colleagues are getting the acknowledgment they deserve for their work. Make sure women in your clinics are listened to and fully believed. Because if the only way for you to show your support is if you are standing at the front of the room, then maybe you don’t actually care about women after all.
I know this conversation is hard and uncomfortable. It requires us to examine our behavior and to change entrenched patterns. But as experts in ethical and equitable care, we owe it to our families and our field to try.
— Emily Magid, IBCLC, MPH, MSW
Emily Magid, IBCLC, MPH, MSW is a private practice Lactation Consultant based in Santa Monica, serving Los Angeles county. Emily believes in providing judgement-free breastfeeding support where people who birth and breastfeed are truly heard and believed. Her work also includes advocating for health equity and reproductive justice. To learn more: www.emilymagid.com