Recently multiple members of our New Hampshire House Commerce Committee demonstrated through their words and actions that they do not support working mothers.
“Men don’t have this problem” was said in response to efforts to pass a workplace-related bill for nursing mothers to have access to a clean and private space and reasonable break time to pump at work. While men don’t nurse their baby, breastfeeding is not a problem, nor is it a woman’s problem – it’s actually a public health problem. Supporting working mothers is also an economic problem and something our state needs to get right to improve our burgeoning workforce shortage.
After years of collecting data and working collaboratively with small and medium business owners, working mothers, healthcare professionals and community organizations in New Hampshire, the NH Breastfeeding Task Force submitted a fair, pro-family, pro-business, bipartisan piece of legislation that we believed would be supported by both sides of the aisle.
We began the journey with bipartisan support, a unanimous vote on the full Senate floor and little to no opposition from the House Commerce Committee during the public hearing on the bill, SB 69. There was little reason to believe this couldn’t be a bipartisan bill and pass this year, after three years of collaborative work.
I am filled with sadness, anger, defeat and frustration that a small group of legislators who are supposed to be the voice of New Hampshire citizens continue to ignore the needs of their constituents instead of having the courage to speak up, lead and support working mothers in our state.
House members cited the “Zoom process” as a barrier to subcommittee meetings, but this is no excuse not to do the job they were elected to do. The Senate was somehow able to do their due diligence on the bill and navigate technology to get their questions answered. I am both ashamed and disappointed that Republican House leaders, who represent the party I have stood with for years, would hold up a bill that was so vital for working mothers. The loyalty to a small group of newly elected officials in the House was more important than the working women this bill was trying to protect, despite the same party demonstrating strong support on the Senate side.
As a consolation, the House members proposed, “bring it back in the fall and we can work on it then,” suggesting that these few men know better than the educated subject matter experts and multi-disciplinary team that worked on this bill, along with the hundreds of New Hampshire working mothers who also offered their input.
Never once did a single House Commerce Committee member reach out with questions if they did not understand the language of the bill. No one in the committee offered suggested language changes or amendments during the committee work. This is a well-developed bill, worked on for three years by New Hampshire volunteers, lawmakers, businesses and working mothers.
To be clear, this was a bare-bones bill with basic protections to get New Hampshire up to par with our neighboring states so we can grow our workforce, economy and create a workplace environment that is pro-family and pro-business. It was irresponsible not to pass this piece of legislation this year merely because a select few did not understand it or just didn’t take the time to.
To those legislators, your actions to stop this legislation this year were not in the best interest of your party or constituents. To think we don’t need a law that allows for access to a private space and reasonable break time so working mothers can pump breast milk 2-3 times a day for a short 12 months of their life is ignorant.
If every business in New Hampshire was already doing this, we wouldn’t be here. And those that are already doing it, you know the value of your employees. 51% of New Hampshire’s workforce is women. We should not have to choose between advancing our careers and nursing our babies. There are 32 other states in the U.S. have similar legislation. Every other state in New England has similar legislation, but New Hampshire is unique, right? Well, we are now. We are unique in that we are not pro-family and not pro-working mothers.
(Lissa Sirois is vice chair of the NH Breastfeeding Task Force.)