iStock/Thinkstock(CANBERRA, Australia) — An Australian senator made history Tuesday by becoming the first woman to breastfeed in the country’s federal parliament.
Larissa Waters, a member of the Australian Greens party, breastfed her newborn daughter, Alia, while seated at her desk on the Senate floor.
“We need more women and parents in Parliament,” Waters wrote on Facebook, adding that she was “so proud” to make history. “And we need more family-friendly and flexible workplaces, and affordable childcare, for everyone.”
Waters, who also tweeted a photo of the moment, is a senator for Queensland who took office in 2011. She lives in Brisbane with her family, according to her official biography.
So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament! We need more #women & parents in Parli #auspol pic.twitter.com/w34nxWxG0y
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) May 9, 2017
Waters last year worked to change Senate rules to give new parents the option to care for their infants on the floor of Parliament, according to the Australian Associated Press.
The senator told the BBC World Service she wanted to “send a message” by caring for her daughter while on the job.
“I had hoped to not only be able to feed my baby, but to send a message to young woman that they belong in the Parliament and that they can both be parliamentarians and be moms,” she said in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Waters described the reaction as “almost universally positive” and said she was particularly touched by the messages of support from fellow moms.
“Lots of women thanking me for doing it, not just for normalizing breast feeding, which is itself an important issue because there is still a little bit of stigma in some corners of society,” she told the BBC. “But it’s been lovely to hear from the young women and the other moms who have said this is a role model for my young daughter or myself to know that we can aspire to these sorts of occupations.”
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