She may be halfway around the globe, but Australian senator Larissa Waters is just like us — juggling work and motherhood.
In a photo posted to Twitter, the working mom of two daughters is seen beaming with pride as she breastfeeds newborn daughter Alia Joy on her first day back to work in the Senate Chamber of Australia’s Parliament House.
“I am so proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament,” Waters, who took 10 weeks of maternity leave, wrote in a message posted to Facebook.
Alia Joy, a motivating factor in Waters’ child care advocacy stance, was born in March.
“I’ll be having a few more weeks off but will soon be back in parliament with this little one in tow,” Waters wrote in a Facebook message shortly after the birth of her second daughter. “She is even more inspiration for continuing our work to address gender inequality and stem dangerous climate change. (And yes, if she’s hungry, she will be breastfed in the Senate chamber).”
And so she was! Social media users are supporting Waters’ commitment to strengthening family-friendly workplace policies.
“Parliament making womanhood ‘normal’ and setting the bar for all employers when it comes to accepting women as equals in the workplace,” wrote Carol Lucas in response to Waters’ Twitter post.
“Thank you for fighting and representing us working mothers! There should be more like you in the business world,” added another commenter.
Breastfeeding has been allowed in the chamber since 2003, but Waters set out to expand the rules. The new guidelines, which went into effect last year, allow new parents to care for their children on the parliament floor, according to The Independent.
“No member, male or female, will ever be prevented from participating fully in the operation of the parliament, by reason of having the care of a baby,” Christopher Pyne, minister for defence industry and leader of the House of Representatives, told The Sydney Morning Herald after the new policy was implemented.
Now the history-making mama and co-deputy leader of the Australian Greens party is using the attention from the recent photo to advocate for a kid-friendly, parent-centric workplace.
“We need more women and parents in Parliament. And we need more family-friendly and flexible workplaces, and affordable child care, for everyone,” Waters added in a recent Facebook post.
