Inside Sabina Chege's breastfeeding Bill

The National Assembly has passed the Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, 2024, which seeks to require employers to provide dedicated breastfeeding facilities at workplaces and strengthen protections for mothers balancing employment with childcare.

The Bill, sponsored by Nominated MP Sabina Chege, provides for lactation facilities, breastfeeding breaks, flexible working arrangements and protection against discrimination for breastfeeding mothers. It also requires baby-changing facilities in public places.

The National Assembly Committee on Social Protection recommended that the House approve the Bill with amendments following consultations with stakeholders, including employers, breastfeeding advocates and government officials.

Celebrating the passage of the Bill, Chege said it would address the challenges faced by working mothers who lack suitable facilities to breastfeed or express milk.

“We did it! The National Assembly has passed the Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, 2024! As the sponsor, my heart is full. This Bill is for every mother forced to express milk in a toilet or choose between her job and her baby,” Chege said.

Once assented to, the proposed law will require employers to provide private, clean lactation rooms, reasonable breastfeeding breaks and flexible working arrangements. It also seeks to protect mothers from discrimination linked to breastfeeding and require baby-changing facilities in public buildings with more than 50 people.

“A healthy baby, a protected mother, a stronger nation. Thank you to the Committee on Social Protection and my colleagues for standing with Kenyan mothers,” she added.

Under the Bill, a woman may breastfeed her child in public, and breastfeeding in public will not be construed as an indecent act.

It also provides that a woman who has a baby may breastfeed or express breast milk at a designated lactation facility at her workplace.

Every employer will be required to establish a lactation room that is shielded from view and free from intrusion by co-workers. The facility must be clean, quiet, private and warm, with a lockable door, a wash basin, a refrigerator for storing expressed milk, an electrical outlet, lighting, a chair, a table and clean storage space for breastfeeding equipment.

Employers establishing lactation facilities will also be required to provide a physical environment that is safe for babies and meets the requirements of the relevant law.

The Bill further provides for appropriate programmes to support the development of babies’ cognitive, emotional, social and language abilities.

An employer who fails to comply with the requirements commits an offence and, upon conviction, faces a fine not exceeding Sh1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.

The Bill provides that breastfeeding mothers should use workplace lactation facilities during working hours for breastfeeding or expressing milk. Employers will be required to provide reasonable breaks for these purposes.

“Where circumstances require a baby to be breastfed for a long period exceeding the time prescribed by regulations, the mother may with the written instructions from a registered medical practitioner, breastfeed the baby for a longer period. A breastfeeding mother may, in the prescribed manner, apply for a flexible work arrangement from the employer for the purposes of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk for the baby,” the Bill provides.

A flexible working arrangement will specify the number of hours an employee is required to work, the type and number of work assignments, and the exact location where the employee is to work.

“Where an application is made, the employer shall respond in writing within 14 days of receipt of such application. Where the employer rejects the application, the employer shall provide a written statement stating reasons for such rejection,” the Bill provides.

A flexible working arrangement may be revoked if either party decides to terminate the agreement or if its terms are abused. Any termination must be communicated in writing.

The Bill also prohibits discrimination against women in access to employment opportunities or benefits on grounds including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or any other maternity-related condition.

“A person shall not  discriminate against a woman on any ground including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or any other maternity-related condition, in accessing employment opportunities or benefits,” it states.

The proposed law also provides penalties for offences for which no specific punishment is prescribed. A person convicted of such an offence will face a fine not exceeding Sh1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.

Where an offence continues, the person convicted will, in addition to the prescribed penalty, be liable to a fine of Sh10,000 for each day the offence continues.

In the Bill’s explanatory statement, Chege argues that breastfeeding is essential to infant health and strengthens the bond between mother and child.

“Breastfeeding is the first preventive health measure that can be given to a child at birth and it also enhances mother-infant relationship. It is nature's first immunization, enabling the infant to fight potential serious infection and it contains growth factors that enhance the maturation of an infant's organ systems,” Chege states in the Bill.

Kenya is a signatory to treaties that provide for an infant’s right to exclusive breastfeeding for six months.

Chege argues that the government should promote and encourage breastfeeding while introducing measures that enable working mothers to continue expressing milk and breastfeeding their infants or young children.

She also argues that breastfeeding could help the country save valuable foreign exchange that might otherwise be spent on milk imports.

“Presently, female employees exit the work force or stop breastfeeding in order to secure their job security. No woman should be forced to compromise the health of her child in order to make a living,” she explained.

The Bill places emphasis on public awareness, with the Cabinet Secretary responsible for labour expected to promote understanding of breastfeeding mothers’ rights and employers’ obligations.