Via Slate:
Kudos to Yahoo News political reporter Rachel Rose Hartman for writing one of the great ledes in the annals of maternity coverage: “When I imagined my journalism career, I never pictured myself standing shirtless in a unisex bathroom in the White House.” That’s the beginning to a piece about Hartman’s frustratingly long quest to find a suitable place to use a breast pump while covering the Obama administration. While her situation is certainly unique in some respects—Hartman describes the White House as “surprisingly small,” and the security issues mean that journalists can’t just jump over to separate buildings—her piece is a great illustration of the shortcomings of the laws that are meant to protect pregnant women.
According to Obama’s Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to provide “reasonable break time” and a private location—aside from a bathroom—where women can pump milk. As Hartman points out, the onus is on her employer, Yahoo, to provide the space, not the White House. This sends her down a primrose path of attempted accommodations, until she finally gets a makeshift room (which is actually a booth shared by the Christian Broadcasting Network and the CBC).
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