“It’s not something most of us think about until we actually have to do it. After all, who really wants to have to pump their breasts at work? It’s bad enough having to share a bathroom with our co-workers, let alone having to find a quiet corner to pump milk from our naked breasts into a plastic tube.
But for many working moms, many of whom return to work within just 12 weeks of giving birth, it’s a downright necessity. And now, thanks to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), it’s also the law — not just in New York but across the country.

According to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research analysis published in 2007, on average nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of the best employers for working mothers provide just four or fewer weeks of paid maternity leave, and half (52 percent) provide six weeks or less. ”