Uh-oh. Kmart is once again embroiled in a breastfeeding no-no.
The retail super power is facing a mass protest at one of its Cairns stores after an employee asked a young mother breastfeeding her baby to cover up and leave the store.
To be precise, he allegedly told the woman it was against store policy to breastfeed in store as it was “offensive” to other customers.
Important note: using breasts for their intended purpose isn’t offensive. Discriminating against women who choose to do so, however, that’s offensive.
Kmart has apologised for the ordeal and clarified that it does not discourage women from breastfeeding in any of its stores.
Sarah Cannell was one of the women who overheard the incident and she took to social media to express her disappointment in the store’s treatment of the young mother.
“The young woman who was breast feeding her child, she had a green cotton wrap draped over her shoulder and no breasts were visible,” she said. Not that that matters, because again – she’s feeding her child, not performing a sex show.
“The employee of Kmart told her that it was against policy to breast feed in store as it was offensive.
“Those were his exact words.”
Ms Cannell told the employee she was more offended “by what I just heard from his mouth” than any breastfeeding.
“He clearly stated it was against company policy to breastfeed in a Kmart store,” she said.
“When told discrimination was against the law, he advised us that we were more than welcome to make a complaint to his superiors.”
As a result, local mum Rachel Benton has organised a ‘flash-mob’ style protest outside the store on Saturday to contest the “discriminatory and illegal” treatment of breastfeeding mothers.
“We just want to draw attention to the fact that there still is this discrimination against women breast feeding in public,” she said.
“We want to make a point, and make a stand.
“We just want to bring to light that there’s more education so people know this is a woman’s legal right.”
After a similar incident in 2015 at Kmart, where a mother was told breastfeeding her child in a change room was “unhygienic”, the store may want to consider a training day for the staff.
