In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the U.S. had the highest rate of maternal mortality of any industrialized country. Black and Alaskan Native women face particular risk, with a mortality rate nearly three times that of non-Hispanic white women. Yet, research suggests that proper prenatal care and medical management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure could prevent as many as two-thirds of pregnancy-related deaths. CDC data also indicates that poor health outcomes in children, such as obesity and asthma, decrease when they are breast-fed.
Over 57% of all women in the U.S. are active in the nation’s workforce. It is imperative, for the health of pregnant and nursing workers and their children, that we guard against pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, ensure job-protected time off from work for birth or to bond with a new child, and guarantee nursing parents have time and space at work to pump breastmilk.
Coinciding with National Breastfeeding Month, U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Women’s Bureau will host representatives from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to kick off a year-long series of webinars and outreach events to ensure workers, worker advocates, health care providers and employers understand the workplace rights of new and expectant parents as well as employer responsibilities.
The first event of the series is our Working Mothers: What to Expect from Your...
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