Manifestations of neoliberal feminism in U.S. teacher lactation behaviours

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the material-discursive contexts available for lactation amongst U.S. teachers who wish to continue nursing [a] child(ren) upon returning full-time to the classroom. Using critical feminist methodologies, we interviewed teacher-parents who chose to lactate or nurse their infants while at school. The study suggests that schools in the United States might be rife with neo-patriarchy that is highly oppressive to teacher-parents. Further, we found that the few discursive strategies available to lactating teacher-parents to navigate a tenuous work/life balance tend to be largely rooted in the highly individualized, responsibilised discourse of neoliberal feminism that is woefully inadequate to pose any serious challenge to the entrenched neo-patriarchy in schools.KEYWORDS: Feminismneo-patriarchylactationteachers Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 All names used are pseudonyms, selected by participants themselves during initial rounds of member checking.2 In 2022, a whistleblower complaint about bacterial contamination at poorly regulated factories led to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation of Abbott, a corporation responsible for approximately 40% of the U.S. formula supply (Schreiber Citation2023, March 8). The resulting nationwide formula shortage lasted for most of 2022, with continuing supply chain reverberations into 2023.3 The purported health benefits of lactation have been contested by some feminist researchers. For instance, Williams (Citation2012) and Oster (Citation2019) both point out that most studies of lactation are biassed by the fact that women who have the time, space, and energy to practise lactation typically have education and financial resources that mark them as categorically privileged and therefore able to access different choices than women who do not. Therefore it is almost impossible to establish a causal relationship between health and educational attainment outcomes of babies who are and are not breastfed, since the high levels of income and education possessed by parents would correlate with better short and long-term outcomes for children even independent of lactation.Additional informationNotes on contributorsKelsey BensonKelsey Benson is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, at the University of Georgia, Athens, United States of America. Kelsey began her foray into education as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the West African nation of Guinea. Upon returning to the United States, she taught middle grades Special Education for six years. She is currently interested in intersections of feminist theory and neoliberalism for her dissertation research.Ajay SharmaAjay Sharma is a professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, at the University of Georgia, Athens, United States of America. His current research centres on theoretical and ethnographic explorations of neoliberalism’s impact on education. In his past research, Ajay Sharma has focused on representations of nature in science education, and classroom discourse in K-12 science classrooms from the perspectives of individual agency and equity.