Rights of female workers in the private sector to breastfeeding breaks and breastfeeding facilities

Breastfeeding is the most important issue for mothers after childbirth because breast milk is the best food for children, since it has significant nutritional value that helps them to grow and protects them from any disease. Moreover, breastfeeding also benefits mothers’ health, since mothers who regularly breastfeed will also be protected from any disease and recover rapidly after giving birth. There are still many problems because of a lack of breastfeeding in Thailand. Many children are abandoned after birth without being breastfed and are faced with malnutrition because their mothers are forced to return to work quickly to earn money for their families. Mothers often work for firms in the private sector where there are no proper legal rights and protection under the law to enable them to breastfeed in the workplace. In Thailand, there are only official projects to promote breastfeeding and provide the appropriate breastfeeding facilities for female workers who desire to continue to breastfeed after they return to work. Employers may voluntarily adopt these projects as policy, but they are not forced to do so under labour laws. This study mainly focuses on maternity rights and protection problems, especially the issue of breastfeeding in the workplace for female workers in the private sector in Thailand. International laws from the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation and the national laws of the United Kingdom, Sweden and Vietnam are examined in this thesis to illustrate the legal provisions that provide female workers with breaks for breastfeeding and the proper facilities to do so in the workplace. These laws are also compared with Thai laws in an attempt to resolve the issue of the lack of rights of female workers in the private sector in Thailand to be able to breastfeed, pump breast milk and collect breast milk while they are at work. Employers should provide breastfeeding breaks and breastfeeding facilities to support female workers to continue breastfeeding during work in order to increase the rate of breastfeeding and alleviate the health problems of both mothers and children. Therefore, Thai labour law needs to be amended to include the provision of appropriate rights to breastfeeding breaks and breastfeeding facilities in workplaces for female workers in the private sector during their time at work.