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An Australian Senator, Larissa Waters, made history on Tuesday by being the first senator to breastfeed her baby in parliament
Queensland Senator Waters is co-deputy leader of Australia’s Green party.
According to CNN, she returned from maternity leave Tuesday, with her second daughter, Alia Joy, in tow. When 2-month-old Alia Joy was hungry, she fed her.
She tweeted: “So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament!
“We need more #women & parents in Parli.”
The Australian Parliament changed its rules last year to allow female lawmakers to nurse their infants in the chamber. Before that, children were banned from the chamber. And breastfeeding mothers were given a proxy vote.
Waters, who was influential in the rule change, said in November, “If we want more young women in Parliament, we must make the rules more family friendly to allow new mothers and new fathers to balance their parliamentary and parental duties.”
On International Woman’s Day, while Waters was still on maternity leave, the senator announced the birth of her daughter and hinted about what was to come.
“(Alia) is even more inspiration for continuing our work to address gender inequality and stem dangerous climate change. (And yes, if she’s hungry, she will be breastfed in the Senate chamber).”