On the Changing Image of Women a Scientific Treatise on the Professional Situation of Women with Children

Abstract

In its publication “Guiding principles for complementary feeding of the breastfed child”, the WHO
propagates that exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months post partum at normal term is essential for
the development of the infant. However, the first question that arises is how to breastfeed children when the
occupational situation of mothers changes to a large extent due to a change in the image of women in society.
Of particular interest here is the possible difference between academic and non-academic women, which
has not yet been evaluated, explicitly in a division of women into decades of childbirth in order to show a
progression over time.
For this purpose, Dr. med. Friederike Harrich interviewed mothers about their situation and evaluated them
in a large-scale study. This study was compared with two other studies in order to pool the data. ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13}
The women were interviewed with a questionnaire, followed by an oral interview using the oral history
method.
The final analysis shows that women without an academic educational background return to work more
often after childbirth than women with an academic educational background. The 1980s are an exception
here, where academically educated women work more after childbirth. ^{4, 6, 7}