The Italian committee responsible for the chamber’s rules of procedure announced on Tuesday that Italian deputies can now breastfeed their child in session and therefore continue to follow the debates.
The deputies can be installed in the last upper row of the assembly or in a reserved gallery, while until now they had to isolate themselves in a room set up for this purpose. Breastfeeding will be allowed until the baby’s first birthday.
The regulations of the lower house of the Italian parliament stipulate that “no person outside the chamber may, under any pretext, enter the assembly where its members sit.”
“This good practice, which guarantees the full enjoyment of an inalienable right, is a strong signal from the most representative assembly of Italian democracy”, greeted the deputy of the 5 Star Movement (M5S) Gilda Sportiello, at the reform initiative.
“Every woman should be able to breastfeed wherever she wants,” she added.
encourage birth
The M5S, a populist formation that won the 2018 legislative elections, had many young mothers from civil society elected to the chamber and has since campaigned to allow them to better combine professional and family life.
Far-right MP Giorgia Meloni, who became prime minister at the end of October, had herself proposed such a measure in 2019 as part of her fight to make it easier for young mothers to work and boost the birth rate in a country that is going through a veritable “demographic winter”.
The leader of the Forza Italia group (right) in the Senate, Licia Ronzulli, also welcomed the reform. Young MEP, she was breastfeeding in the Strasbourg parliament where it is authorized. Photos of her and her baby made headlines in Italy.
“On the reconciliation between work and family, the institutions, called upon to legislate in this direction, must set an example,” he tweeted.
Source: BFM TV
