Based on feedback from people of color who commented on my article, I have taken it down for the following reasons:
- My survey was not representative of private practice lactation consultants, so I should not try to generalize from my sample to the population.
- My ideas for improving diversity among lactation consultants did not consider input from people of color themselves.
My intent was to call attention to a lack of diversity in our field, and tie it to the obstacles in IBCLC training overall, and offer my idea for how to improve things. Clearly, I have a lot to learn, so I’m going to step aside. If you commented on any of my Facebook posts, know that I have read your comments and have taken them to heart. I am reading the suggested links and reconsidering how I can make my PP IBCLC Tech Survey more representative in the future. I’m trying to do the work to become a better ally to people of color and actually help increase diversity in our field.
As regards the rest of the survey, I’m still crunching the numbers and creating graphs, and will have those posted here as soon as I have them.
For further information, here are links to resources that were suggested to me in response to this article:
National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color http://napplsc.org/
National Association of Birth Workers of Color https://www.facebook.com/NABWOC/
Article from Essence magazine entitled Sis, It’s Not You, It’s Them: Here’s Why Black Women Are Having A Hard Time Moving Up The Corporate Ladder
Article from Forbes magazine entitled Failure Is Not An Option: The Pressure Black Women Feel To Succeed
Article from Forbes magazine entitled The Clear Connection Between Slavery And American Capitalism
Article from Essence magazine entitled It’s True: Black Women Are Working Harder And Getting Less In Return
Article from Medium.com entitled Twice As Good: The Perils of Flawless Black Women
Comments
6 responses to “Lack of Diversity Among Private Practice Lactation Consultants”
Thank you, Reka! A clear, concise breakdown of a problem we IBCLCs have recognized since the inception. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a hands on competency test? My 18 year old EMT son had to do this before his first 911 call. High school grad, passed an entry level knowledge test AND a skills test. Went on to save lives. La Lecge League pioneeded the Peer Counselor Program, realizing the disparity issue years ago. Hope you publish this beyond your website
Thank you, Hedi! If anybody is interested in publishing my results or my articles, I would be very happy.
HiReka, thank you for the report. It is a excellent article and I appreciate all your hard work to provide that information and the concerns that are addressed . I would love to personally share or have you share that information in our community.
Thank you, Michele. Please feel free to share the article. I’d be happy to speak on diversity issues, which is something I address when I teach for BreastfeedLA, but an IBCLC of color would be a better choice.
Colonialist, white savior dribble. The methodology is garbage and the “findings” should never have been published. Do yourself a favor and retract it.
Thank you for your feedback. I have taken the article down.