The annual World Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated in the first week of August, brings the world together to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. This year’s theme, “Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents”, underscores the importance of building breastfeeding-friendly workplaces for nursing mothers.

Since June 2021, all women in Hong Kong are protected from discrimination and harassment on the grounds of breastfeeding under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance. The law applies to key areas of public life, including employment, education, provisions of goods, facilities and services etc.

In an op-ed article published on online media outlet HK01, EOC Chairperson Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin urged employers to create a safe and convenient environment for breastfeeding mothers, free from discrimination and harassment. Such an environment would enable these mothers to breastfeed their babies or express breast milk with ease.

 “A breastfeeding-friendly workplace can encourage women to return to the workforce sooner after giving birth, thereby providing companies or organisations with valuable talent support,” wrote Mr Chu.

Mr Chu encouraged employers to take concrete steps to promote breastfeeding, such as developing a written policy that demonstrates support for breastfeeding, establishing procedures to facilitate breastfeeding or expressing breast milk, and offering flexibility in work arrangements.

• Read Mr Chu’s article on HK01 (in Chinese only)