A new article from the other paper explores the discrimination that some mothers face when they try to breastfeed their children.

Societal norms help govern cultural behavior. There are some behaviors—even natural bodily functions—that are deemed rude, gross or offensive; behaviors that people are taught are not socially acceptable, out of respect for others. You know what they are.

For the most part, none are illegal. They’re regulated through subtle discriminations—sneering faces, name-calling, disapproval.

Enter breast-feeding.

[…]

While employment laws are lacking clear-cut protections, local and state laws do protect breast-feeding women in public.

“There is a section of the Ohio Revised Code that basically says a mother is entitled to breast-feed her baby in a place of public accommodation,” said Carrie Davis, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “So if you’re otherwise allowed, as a woman, to be in this public place, then you can be breast-feeding in this place. All of that’s covered under Ohio law.”

The student newspaper at Kent State writes an important editorial on the need to ensure equal pay for all workers.

Pay equity is about more than just men and women being equally compensated for the same amount and type of work.

Pay equity is not about catchy movie montages set to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” or The Pointer Sisters’ “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.”

And pay equity is certainly not only about doing the legal minimum to avoid discrimination lawsuits.

It’s about men and women - regardless of age, ethnicity, skin color or sexual orientation - being valued as equal members of society, who are rewarded for their contributions. It is about those contributions to our society or our economy being valued higher or lower not because they came from a man or a woman but because they are valuable in and of themselves.