The Technion has made remarkable progress in increasing its number of female students over several decades. This year, half of all new undergraduate students are women. The share of women pursuing advanced degrees is also on the rise.   

To ensure the University continues to attract and enroll more women, a survey among female students and alumnae was taken, which revealed the need for nursing and lactation rooms throughout the campus. As a result, 18 nursing rooms were installed in each faculty, as well as in the Technion Student House and the Ulman Building, where all first-year students have classes.   

“The welcome growth in the number of women studying at the Technion means that it is all the more important to provide the new mothers among them with suitable and respectful conditions for nursing or pumping milk in every department and faculty where they study or work,” said Professor Adi Salzberg, vice president for diversity and inclusion, who led the study.  

Liza Shamaliov Zaretski, who manages the Facebook groups “Women Students at the Technion” and “Moms at the Technion,” oversaw the project. “A room to nurse and to pump milk during the first few months after childbirth would make it easier for women to return to the University without having to give up nursing,” she explained. 

All the lactation rooms are equipped with a comfortable nursing chair, a diaper changing station, a special refrigerator to store breast milk, and a work area that includes a computer table and chair. There is either a kitchenette next to or a sink inside of each room for washing the pumping equipment.  

“Maneuvering between family life and work or studies is often difficult and challenging – even more so for nursing mothers,” said Prof. Salzberg. “The new nursing rooms are another way to help these women feel at home at the Technion.” 

Photo: Katya Brodetzky, a graduate of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, in the faculty’s new nursing room. Credit: Sharon Tzur, Technion Spokesperson’s Office.