The issue of Women and Work is about enabling women to successfully combine their reproductive and productive roles. It is a health issue, an economic issue, a labour issue, and a human rights issue. For background information, please click here . 

The amount of support for working women varies from country to country, and in many countries is inadequate to support exclusive breastfeeding for six months. To see what legislation exists in your country, click here .

The breastfeeding movement can work together with trade unions, women's groups, employers and governments to implement minimum standards for maternity protection as set out by the ILO . To read
more about the Trade union maternity protection campaign , click
here . For more useful links, click here .

The Maternity P rotection C oalition is composed of International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), the LINKAGES project and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), with technical assistance from International Maternal & Child Health, Uppsala University, Sweden (IMCH) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The Coalition first worked together in shaping new international standards in the form of ILO Convention 183  and Recommendation 191 . More recently the Coaltition has produced the Maternity Protection Campaign Kit , which is being promoted to stimulate action at international, regional and national levels.

With the cooperation of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), WABA is able to offer small seedgrant project funds to local or national groups for initiatives that aim to enable working women to breastfeed, with priority given to projects that work towards improving national laws or ratifying ILO C183.