A More Inclusive Workplace for Breastfeeding Mothers

ADJOURNMENT MOTION

The Deputy Leader of the House: Mdm Deputy Speaker, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Question proposed.

A More Inclusive Workplace for Breastfeeding Mothers

6.24 pm

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Madam, I think that I now hold the record for the most number of times someone has lost the ballot for an Adjournment Motion. I have been trying to deliver this Motion since May. But on a positive note, Minister Indranee Rajah probably had the longest time ever to consider the recommendations in an Adjournment Motion before it is delivered. So, I am sure, and I hope, she will say "yes" to all the recommendations from the breastfeeding mothers, many of whom are seated in the Gallery above and have waited a long time for their voices to be heard in this House.

Madam, my wife and I know how difficult it is to breastfeed. All three of my daughters – Ella, Katie and Poppy – were breastfed until they were about two years old. My wife and I are part of a growing number of Singaporeans who have chosen breastfeeding because it increases mother-child bonding and improves the health of both infant and mother.

That said, my speech today is not about why breastfeeding is good. Indeed, some mothers cannot or choose not to breastfeed and we should respect them all the same. Instead, my speech is about how the Government can support mothers who choose to breastfeed.

Let me start by sharing stories from the workplace – many, many stories – because so many mothers spoke up pleading for help and calling for change.

Madam, the challenges of expressing milk at work is one of the top three reasons why mothers stop breastfeeding. This is based on a local survey of close to 1,000 mothers, conducted by the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group Singapore earlier this year.

There is one consistent theme in the stories: shame and discrimination. So many mothers told me they were asked to go to the toilet to express their milk.

One mother shared, "I told my management that I am okay with pumping at my desk using a wearable pump and a nursing cover. But they told me that it was inappropriate because there are many guys in office and asked me to use the toilet to pump instead".

Another said, "I was told to use the handicap toilet and could not pump at my desk as my colleagues did not like the sound of the pump".

Similarly, another mother's workplace did not have a room for her to pump milk. So, she asked to do so within her own cubicle. Even though she acted as discreetly as she could have, her colleagues dissuaded her from continuing because it was "distracting" to them.

One mother shared that she was not even allowed to pump under a nursing cover in the meeting room.

Another had to pump inside a cubicle with no fan. "I was sweating like mad", she said.

Mdm Lee, who was a business development executive for a medical product company, told me that she had to use the storeroom for product samples as a lactation room. To gain a little privacy, she asked for a foldable curtain. Even this small request was not entertained.

Another mother said, "I used a meeting room which had glass doors, so I had to pump in a blind spot".

Some mothers are also made to feel bad. One shared, "My bosses kept making remarks about how formula milk is not worse than breast milk and made snide remarks when I took time off to pump".

Some endure physical pain because they are unable to find time to pump. A teacher shared with me, "It was very common to find myself and colleagues pumping out bloodied milk because we had to endure through extended hours of lessons".

Madam, these stories are heartbreaking because these mothers are only trying to feed their children.

The irony is that their employers speak of productivity, but failing to pump milk is, in fact, a major distraction for many mothers.

When a breastfeeding mother fails to pump at the right time, their breasts can become swollen and create sharp, burning pains. It can even cause infections. Some mothers are in a double whammy: pump the milk and be accused of inefficiency; do not pump the milk and actually become inefficient due to the pain and stress. They just cannot win.

In spite of these challenges, more mothers have taken to breastfeeding. For exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months, the rate has increased from 1% in 2011 to a reported 38.2% in 2019. This is a tremendous increase of more than 38-folds in less than a decade. We need to do right by them. In this speech, I will outline two things they need at their workplaces: space and time. They need more lactation rooms and they need paid lactation breaks.

Let me start with my first proposal: increase the number of lactation rooms required in buildings that contain offices and business parks.

Dedicated lactation rooms are the best way to facilitate breastfeeding. Today, too many mothers are forced to use undignified spaces like toilets or storerooms. Such mixed-use spaces are often dirty or disruptive, and the stress can block mothers from expressing milk.

As I shared earlier, some mothers try their best to adapt and pump at their workstation and continue working while they are pumping.

Mdm Yang did this and shared with me at a dialogue session a few months ago, about the stress of pumping milk in places where others can watch. Some days, the stress prevented her from expressing more than 10 to 20 millilitres even for half an hour of pumping. Not enough, she said.

Madam, I wish I can show everyone here, right now, how difficult it is to pump with a breast pump while concurrently working. I would if I could, but I cannot, as I, obviously, cannot breastfeed. And more importantly, I promised Whip I would not do any live demonstration during this speech and I intend to keep that promise.

But, Madam, do not just believe my words and the stories I have shared. The data backs up these stories. According to the local survey by the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group Singapore, eight in 10 working mothers say one of the things they need the most is a lactation room.

I do understand that many employers face both financial and physical space constraints in terms of providing a lactation room, especially SMEs. This was a point that Senior Minister of State Amy Khor made four years ago, and I agree with her. She said, "We can encourage building owners and developers to set up common family and nursing rooms that their tenants can access and utilise".

As such, the call today is for building owners to provide the lactation rooms and, Madam, we really have to go beyond just encouraging building owners to provide this. To really help breastfeeding mothers, the Government has to mandate the provision of more lactation rooms in buildings that have offices and business parks.

Currently, MND requires only one lactation room for such buildings if they have a gross floor area of 10,000 square metres (sqm) or more. We should lower this threshold, so that more buildings are required to have a lactation room.

And it is not just about having one room. It is about having enough rooms. So many mothers have shared stories about rushing to a lactation room during their lunch break, only to find that another mother is already using it. One mother told me that she would sometimes only have five minutes left for her own lunch after expressing her milk. Feed yourself or feed the child? Madam, no mother in Singapore should have to make this decision.

It is also clear that buildings with more occupants have higher needs. We should require larger buildings, those with a higher gross floor area, to have more than one lactation room.

MND has said that the gross floor area threshold is a base guideline meant to strike a balance between needs and the efficient use of space and that some buildings go beyond these requirements. Indeed, as Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad shared when we debated this issue two years ago, MND itself had two lactation rooms in the MND HQ within the floors they occupied, while MOM had five in its two office buildings.

I appreciate the Government going above and beyond for its employees. But what about all the women not working for the Government?

I also understand MND's point about having to use space efficiently. But we have always known that efficiency must be balanced against safety.

In the UK, the issue of breastfeeding at work is considered a matter of workplace health and safety. Employers there cannot ask a breastfeeding mother to pump in unhygienic environments such as the toilet. We must work towards a similar safety standard for our nursing mothers.

In its next review of the Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment, will MND consider lowering the gross floor area threshold, so that more buildings with offices and business parks will be required to have a lactation room? Will MND also consider increasing the number of lactation rooms required for larger buildings containing offices and business parks?

My second proposal is that we legislate paid lactation breaks. Expressing milk takes time. On average, a session takes 20 to 30 minutes. But the problem is many women simply do not have time at work to express milk. In the survey, again, conducted by the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group Singapore, two-thirds of working mothers had this problem. Most of them also said they could not express milk as much as they had wanted during work.

Some mothers try to find time by multi-tasking. But even that comes with its risks. Mdm Yap told me that milk started leaking from her hands-free pump when she was talking to a co-worker.

The risks of not having dedicated time to breastfeed goes beyond some embarrassing spillage. As I stressed earlier, the breasts of nursing mothers become infected and painful when milk is not expressed regularly. Over time, such irregularity also leads to a permanent decrease in milk that the mothers can supply. Mothers are worse off and so are their children.

Laws that guarantee paid breastfeeding breaks are not new or uncommon. A 2020 report on 97 countries found that 73% of the countries had laws for paid breastfeeding breaks. Singapore is in the minority of countries that do not provide this. Why?

I raised this at the recent COS debates and Minister of State Ms Gan Siow Huang replied that the need to build mutual understanding and trust between employers and employees is why Singapore does not take a legislative approach for workplace practices, such as mandatory breastfeeding breaks.

But taking a legislative approach is not mutually exclusive with building trust and encouraging employers. We already legislate a whole slew of protections for our workers. In addition, legislation can spark cultural change. One of the biggest challenges is that many employers simply do not think about breastfeeding at all. Legislating paid lactation breaks can spark a broader conversation about how expressing milk can be normalised and supported at the workplace.

Some might say that flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are becoming more prevalent and that will solve the problem of insufficient breastfeeding time. Indeed, FWAs are a good thing for breastfeeding mothers. It has been reported that work-from-home during the pandemic enabled mothers to breastfeed longer and more comfortably than when they worked in the office.

But work-from-home is not an option for all mothers. Many still work in the office, and many more have returned to the office in recent months. We cannot leave these mothers hanging and they still need our support.

To support mothers at their workplaces, will the Government consider introducing legislation to mandate the provision of paid breaks, specifically, for breastfeeding?

Before I conclude, I want to pre-empt one point. Some may question whether lactation rooms and nursing breaks are a good use of resources. But we should be clear: breastfeeding mothers are a valuable part of our workforce. Already, 20% of women of working age are not in the labour force, as Minister Tan See Leng said at the recent COS debates, I quote: "There are vacancies across all occupational levels with varied qualifications and needs which could potentially be filled by this group".

For breastfeeding mothers who do want to return to work, surely, we can do more to ease their transition back into the workforce.

Minister Tan also shared that, I quote: "In order to tap on this segment of our population, businesses will need to consider how the jobs they offer can be more flexible and attractive to locals".

Businesses can help but the Government can too. Having a more inclusive workplace and providing more support for breastfeeding mothers might make it easier for breastfeeding mothers to re-enter or remain in the workforce. Without a doubt, one of the barriers for many mothers is the lack of time and space to produce milk to feed their children.

My proposals today are about providing those things. And do not just take it from me. The many mothers that I have spoken to, and the many mothers surveyed by the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group Singapore say the same.

NTUC has said that the provision of lactation breaks and lactation rooms does support breastfeeding mothers at the workplace. AWARE, which published a report last year – based on feedback from pregnant women and female caregivers, said the same, and emphasised that legislation is needed for those practices to become widespread. Madam, we need to do more for nursing mothers and do more urgently.

I would like to end this speech by acknowledging the significant progress made over the years. MHA has clarified that breastfeeding in public is unlikely to constitute offenses of indecent exposure or appearing nude in public. MOT has made clear that breastfeeding is allowed on buses and trains and that the Government will provide nursing rooms at all new bus interchanges and integrated transport hubs, as well as new MRT interchange stations. MOE has said that it is committed to providing a conducive workplace for nursing mothers and will ensure that all Primary schools, Secondary schools and Junior Colleges/centralised institutes have a dedicated lactation room. MOE has also shared that all institutes of higher learning (IHLs), the Autonomous Universities, Polytechnics and ITEs are already equipped with lactation facilities.

NTUC's Women and Family Unit, HPB and the Singapore National Employers Federation also have an employer's guide to breastfeeding at the workplace that provides employers with information on what they can do to support employees to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. The Government has even provided grants to build lactation rooms.

I thank the Ministries and organisations for their hard work, but we can and must go further. To this end, the Breastfeeding Mothers' Support Group Singapore has done incredible work in supporting breastfeeding mothers. Members of the group have shared with me this sentiment: "Right now, breastfeeding is tolerated. I hope we move towards embracing, rather than tolerating breastfeeding." I too hope that we can review our laws so that we embrace, rather than just tolerate, breastfeeding.

First, we need to increase the number of lactation rooms available to working mothers. The gross floor area threshold needs to be lowered so more buildings are required to have lactation rooms. The minimum number of lactation rooms also needs to be increased for larger buildings.

Second, we need to join the majority of countries and introduce legislation to provide paid lactation breaks.

Finally, Madam, I end with this quote that I hope expresses the wishes of our breastfeeding mothers: "I breastfeed, not because I think I am better; not because I think less of formula feeding moms; not because I want attention; not because I want to show my breast to others. I breastfeed because I couldn't imagine it any other way, because my child wants to be nourished from me, because this is what nature intended, because this was the right choice for my family." [Applause.]

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Minister Indranee Rajah.

6.39 pm

The Second Minister for National Development (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mdm Deputy Speaker, first, let me congratulate Mr Louis Ng on his perseverance in continuing to file for the ballot for this Adjournment Motion and to time it so well that he made it for today, which is during the World Breastfeeding Week. [Applause.] So, sometimes, good things are worth waiting for.

I would also like to thank Mr Louis Ng for sharing his suggestions on how we can create more inclusive workplaces for nursing mothers.

Women are an important part of our workforce. Over the years, the number of working mothers has increased and more women are choosing to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Promotion Board (HPB) recommend breastfeeding for up to two years or more after a child's birth to meet evolving nutritional requirements.

It is not easy for working mothers to continue breastfeeding, on top of juggling other work and family duties. So, we empathise with them. To support them, the Government takes a two-pronged approach by first, legislating and incentivising the provision of lactation facilities; and second, promoting an inclusive, supportive work culture for nursing mothers.

Let me elaborate on this.

We recognise that nursing mothers need access to clean, comfortable and private spaces where they can breastfeed their babies or pump milk. That is why we have progressively expanded building requirements for lactation rooms over the years.

In 2014, BCA introduced requirements for new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major retrofits to provide family-friendly features,such as lactation rooms. These requirements applied to building types that are visited frequently by families, including public infrastructure, such as transport hubs, and private retail developments, such as shopping malls exceeding 10,000 sqm in gross floor area (GFA). In 2020, BCA extended the requirement to more building types, including offices and business parks exceeding 10,000 sqm in GFA.

These regulatory enhancements resulted from regular reviews of the Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment. The latest review that led to the expanded lactation room requirement was carried out by a committee comprising representatives from social service agencies (SSAs), trade associations and chambers (TACs), academia and Government agencies. The committee took two years to consult widely, study the needs of various segments of society and requirements in other jurisdictions, and take in industry feedback.

Specifically on lactation facilities, the committee considered feedback that the demand for lactation rooms will vary depending on each building's user profile. For example, the premises of a company that employs more women of child-bearing age will need to have more lactation facilities. On the other hand, it may be impractical for a small building to have a room permanently set aside for lactation due to space constraints. The committee's decision to set one lactation room as the minimum requirement and a GFA threshold of 10,000 sqm for offices and business parks was to strike a balance between the need for such facilities and the buildings' constraints, especially with older and smaller buildings.

We will continue to review the requirements from time to time. We will also take the Member's feedback into consideration for our next review of the Code, which will commence next year.

Beyond legislation, the Government also encourages and supports building owners to voluntarily provide more lactation facilities, based on the needs of each building. We are heartened to see building owners from both the public and private sectors going beyond the Code requirements to cater to their users.

For example, CapitaSpring is a large commercial development with three lactation rooms. Several developments with less than 10,000 sqm of GFA, such as Design Orchard and Raffles Holland V, have also provided lactation rooms, despite not being required to do so.

Building owners who wish to retrofit their buildings with family-friendly features, such as lactation rooms, can tap on BCA's Accessibility Fund (AF), which co-funds up to 60% of the construction cost of such features. To support more of such progressive building owners, BCA extended the AF on 1 August to all buildings built between 1990 and 2014, when the requirements for family-friendly features were first introduced.

In recent years, alternatives to conventional lactation rooms have emerged. For example, the Government co-funded a pilot of free-standing, ready-built lactation pods by local startup Go!Mama for breastfeeding mothers visiting Sentosa. The pods are designed to be easily deployed to any location with an electrical power point and are targeted at premise owners who may have limited space to provide permanent lactation facilities. Such solutions will provide more options for premise owners to meet nursing mothers' needs.

Mdm Deputy Speaker, we recognise that infrastructural solutions alone are insufficient to support nursing mothers at work. From the stories that the Member has told, it is quite clear that mindsets are key to this as well. So, more importantly, our work culture needs to be inclusive and supportive.

Our Government has implemented a comprehensive package of measures to support parents in their marriage and parenthood journey. Our working mothers are provided 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, six days of paid childcare leave and six days of unpaid infant care leave in the child's first year. These leave schemes provide mothers time away from work to care for their newborns. We will continue to review these measures to address their needs.

Working mothers experience various challenges juggling work and family. Beyond legislation, they need understanding bosses and colleagues. It is in employers' interest to take care of the needs of all employees, including nursing mothers, as this improves staff retention and morale. It is also important that co-workers support one another, especially through difficult periods, such as when mothers return to work.

Where there are infrastructural constraints, such as a lack of space for dedicated lactation facilities, employers can bridge the gap with creative solutions and support from others in the workplace. Nursing mothers have shared stories of how their employers have repurposed existing office spaces into nursing facilities where there were previously none, and adjusted meetings and work schedules to accommodate nursing breaks. For example, Infineon Technologies supports nursing mothers at work by providing private lactation rooms and flexible work arrangements (FWAs), such as hybrid work and flexi-hours.

Together with our tripartite partners, we are supporting employers to do more for nursing mothers at work. We will continue to promote best practices with the Employer's Guide to Breastfeeding at the Workplace. NTUC also supports companies to adopt family-friendly practices under their "Better Workplace" campaign, which includes the provision of nursing facilities. These companies can also participate in the Made For Families initiative to be recognised as supportive employers.

Fostering a family-friendly work culture requires everyone's support: supervisors, colleagues and the wider community. Mindsets need to shift and this could take time. But it must be done.

Only when mindsets shift to genuinely embrace employees' diverse needs, will we see real change on the ground. Let us, therefore, strive towards a workplace ethos of caring for our employees and co-workers, mutual trust and a spirit of give and take.

Mdm Deputy Speaker, creating inclusive workplaces requires partnership with many stakeholders to provide a supportive ecosystem for all employees, including nursing mothers. We are committed to our whole-of-nation efforts to build a fairer and more inclusive society for all Singaporeans. We will also continue to engage stakeholders and regularly review how we can better support women, both at the workplace and in their parenting journey. [Applause.]

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Louis Ng, are you seeking a clarification? Go ahead.

6.49 pm

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Thank you, Madam. I thank the Minister for the reply. I think she mentioned that there will be a review next year. Could I ask when the review will be completed. And again, as a matter of urgency, whether we can do the review earlier?

The data that I shared showed that about a third of mothers are still breastfeeding when the infant is six months old. Which means, many are returning to work and needing the lactation room. Data shows that there is a lack of it now. I am wondering again when the review will be completed and whether we could expedite and do it this year, instead of next year.

Ms Indranee Rajah: We are reviewing a whole range of things in support of marriage and parenthood. This, obviously, would be one of them. My response to the Member is that we will do it as soon as possible.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Adjourned accordingly at 6.50 pm.