Women´s work, family policies and pro-breastfeeding discourses: advances and challenges to gender equity

ABSTRACT

The paper discusses the relationship between pro-breastfeeding discourses, women's work and family policies in Brazil, pointing advances and challenges to gender equity. The analysis of the Strategy to Support Breastfeeding Working Mothers material, of the Ministry of Health, based on benchmarks of gender studies and social discourses semiology, indicates how the oficial discourses reinforce the value of breastfeeding for children health and reiterate the sexual division of labor. In turn, family policies still don't cover the social needs, such as the extension of maternity and paternity leaves for all workers, and the creation of parental leaves.

KEYWORDS
Breastfeeding; Women's work; Public policies; Health education; Gender and health