Goodwill Apologizes for Shaming Breastfeeding Mom on Social Media
Photo courtesy of Goodwill
Goodwill has apologized on behalf of two of its employees — and suspended them — after they made less than charitable remarks on Twitter about a customer who was breastfeeding in an Oregon branch of the store.
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The trouble began when customer Emma Ingram was recently standing in line at a store in McMinville, Oregon, and began to nurse her fussy baby. Shortly afterward, Ingram checked Twitter and saw the following tweet from the account @jordyyynicole, which read, “So I totally had a lady come through my line today while she was breastfeeding her baby. #OnlyAtGoodwill. #SawHerNipple.”
It was followed by a second tweet — this time from the store’s corporate account — which read, “There isn’t a thing wrong with breastfeeding, breastfeeding is a natural thing but it should be done in a private place.”
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On Friday, Ingram returned to the store with about 100 other mothers, all of whom nursed inside, to protest the anti-breastfeeding message. The “nurse-in” received plenty of support on social media. Twitter commenters scolded Goodwill to “educate your staff” and reminded the company that women have a “legal right” to breastfeed in Oregon.
In response, Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries, posted the following statement to the company website: “I want to personally apologize for recent events regarding how breastfeeding was handled by two Goodwill employees and express our concern for the nursing mother who was involved in this regrettable incident. The actions of these employees were completely inappropriate and each employee has been suspended. While this event was totally unacceptable and not at all what Goodwill stands for, it has become a teachable moment to remind and reeducate all of our employees about the rights of nursing moms. Many of our own employees are nursing moms and we proudly support them when they are working.”
He added, “I am concerned that this unfortunate situation will detract from the good work being done by our 122,000 Goodwill employees across North America helping to assist individuals and their families gain valuable job skills, employment and economic sustainability. Goodwill deeply values the moms and the families we serve.”
According to the Oregon Public Health Division, “Women have a right to breastfeed in public anywhere that they have a right to be. It’s the law! This protection is needed since women breastfeeding in a public place are often asked to stop, leave or cover up. Such situations make women feel embarrassed and fearful of being stigmatized by people around them. Embarrassment remains a formidable barrier to breastfeeding.” The website even offers wallet-sized cards informing others of a woman’s right to breastfeed in public, should they be challenged on the topic.
Unfortunately, women are asked to leave public places quite often for breastfeeding. In July, an employee at a New York Barnes & Nobles asked a woman to cover up in order to nurse her infant son inside the store. After leaving the store, the mother asked the state attorney general to get involved and as a result, Barnes & Nobles had to train all its employees on breastfeeding rights and donate $10,000 to a breastfeeding support group. And in Kentucky, a server at Johnny Rockets asked a mother, who was nursing her son inside a booth, to leave the restaurant and finish in the bathroom or on a public bench.
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