Chapter Four - Milk and Management

Summary

This study finds that a significant number of organizations that engaged in managerialization – where the law’s goals, such as equality, are abandoned in favor of management concerns, such as absenteeism – actually succeeded in creating successful compliance with the Lactation at Work Law. The findings contrast with previous studies that have found that managerialized compliance leads to mere symbolic change. The Lactation at Work Law’s stipulated accommodations are more concrete than many other civil rights laws that only provide vague directives, like providing “equal opportunity.” Lactation accommodations were most successful when the organization had preexisting cultural norms of flexible time, worker autonomy, and a history of accommodating a variety of employee needs, as well as available structural resources, such as individual offices or ample private spaces; and the Lactation at Work Law and its accommodations enjoyed sufficient legitimacy throughout the organization.