Icelandic MP Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir nursed her 6-week-old daughter as she discussed a vote on new immigration legislation to the parliament. She fed her at the podium of the Alþingi parliament on Wednesday, as she addressed her colleagues.
Konráðsdóttir is a member of Iceland’s center-right Independence Party and chairs both the parliamentary Judicial Affairs and Education Committees. Her daughter was born September 1st and has accompanied her mother to parliament and conferences since her birth. Other MPs offered to hold the child while she spoke, but Konráðsdóttir decided that simply nursing her daughter would be less interruptive.
“She was hungry and I had not expected to go to the pulpit,” said Konráðsdóttir. “Then another MP was giving statements on a bill that I put forward on the behalf of the Judicial Affairs Committee, to which I had to respond. So I either had to tear the baby girl of me and leave her crying with the MP sitting next to me or just take her with me and I thought it would cause less disturbance to take her with me”.
Though many countries still do not require protect individuals rights to breastfeed in public, much less in their parliamentary and congressional houses, Iceland is more progressive in this regard (although this is the first time that an MP has breastfed while actually addressing their peers.)
As Konráðsdóttir told AFP, being a mother is hard work, and “you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
This incident serves to remind us that people of all bodies, including those who are nursing, have both the ability and the right to work free from stigma.
Breastfeeding is far from shameful; we think it’s a superpower.
Image Source: YouTube
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