Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy
The United States has one of the lowest exclusive breastfeeding rates among high-income countries. Most experts agree that there is a lack of mother-friendly workplace policies compared to other countries. Since 1995, 25 states have implemented workplace breastfeeding legislation allowing mothers to...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-08-01
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| Series: | SSM: Population Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827319304112 |
| _version_ | 1819121980417245184 |
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| author | Katharina Hauck Marisa Miraldo Surya Singh |
| author_facet | Katharina Hauck Marisa Miraldo Surya Singh |
| author_sort | Katharina Hauck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The United States has one of the lowest exclusive breastfeeding rates among high-income countries. Most experts agree that there is a lack of mother-friendly workplace policies compared to other countries. Since 1995, 25 states have implemented workplace breastfeeding legislation allowing mothers to express and store breast milk in the workplace. There is heterogeneity in policy enforceability where 17 states have weak enforceability while eight states have strict enforceability and require employers to offer provisions to breastfeed at the workplace. Using difference-in-differences methods, we examine the impact of this policy on state-level breastfeeding rates and assess how that impact differs with policy enforceability. We use data from the Centers for Disease Control on breastfeeding, supplementing with socio-economic data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Current Population Survey, the US Census Bureau and several other datasets over 22 years from 1990 to 2011. We find that states with legislation experienced a 2.3-percentage point increase in breastfeeding rates compared to states without legislation while states with weak enforceability experienced a 3.1-percentage point increase compared to states without legislation. We also find that policies do not start to have an impact until 1–2 years after they were signed into law. Considering the recent assault on breastfeeding from the current administration, our study is a timely and important contribution that strengthens the evidence base for the health benefits of workplace breastfeeding policies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:45:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-999c54cd69774fb9be96cb3fe6c96024 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-8273 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T06:45:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SSM: Population Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-999c54cd69774fb9be96cb3fe6c960242022-12-21T18:35:17ZengElsevierSSM: Population Health2352-82732020-08-0111100580Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policyKatharina Hauck0Marisa Miraldo1Surya Singh2Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Medical School Building, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UKCentre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation, Imperial College London Business School, South Kensington Campus, Ayrton Rd, Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, UK; Department of Economics and Public Policy, Imperial College Business School, UKImperial College London Business School, South Kensington Campus, Ayrton Rd, Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, UK; Corresponding author.The United States has one of the lowest exclusive breastfeeding rates among high-income countries. Most experts agree that there is a lack of mother-friendly workplace policies compared to other countries. Since 1995, 25 states have implemented workplace breastfeeding legislation allowing mothers to express and store breast milk in the workplace. There is heterogeneity in policy enforceability where 17 states have weak enforceability while eight states have strict enforceability and require employers to offer provisions to breastfeed at the workplace. Using difference-in-differences methods, we examine the impact of this policy on state-level breastfeeding rates and assess how that impact differs with policy enforceability. We use data from the Centers for Disease Control on breastfeeding, supplementing with socio-economic data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Current Population Survey, the US Census Bureau and several other datasets over 22 years from 1990 to 2011. We find that states with legislation experienced a 2.3-percentage point increase in breastfeeding rates compared to states without legislation while states with weak enforceability experienced a 3.1-percentage point increase compared to states without legislation. We also find that policies do not start to have an impact until 1–2 years after they were signed into law. Considering the recent assault on breastfeeding from the current administration, our study is a timely and important contribution that strengthens the evidence base for the health benefits of workplace breastfeeding policies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827319304112BreastfeedingWorkplace policiesPolicy evaluation |
| spellingShingle | Katharina Hauck Marisa Miraldo Surya Singh Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy SSM: Population Health Breastfeeding Workplace policies Policy evaluation |
| title | Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy |
| title_full | Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy |
| title_fullStr | Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy |
| title_short | Integrating motherhood and employment: A 22-year analysis investigating impacts of US workplace breastfeeding policy |
| title_sort | integrating motherhood and employment a 22 year analysis investigating impacts of us workplace breastfeeding policy |
| topic | Breastfeeding Workplace policies Policy evaluation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827319304112 |
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