Technion honors Women's Day with special event.
Photo: Amos Levav
Female professors encourage young women to study science and tech
At annual 'Women's Day' event at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology – 200 female students are called upon to study engineering and science in order to better integrate into high-tech workforce.
As International Women's day came to a close Sunday, the annual women's day event was held at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa – in order to promote the integration of women into the technology and engineering industries.
"As more women join the scientific and technological fields, the interface between engineering and life will grow and enable women to integrate more easily between family life, challenges in research, interest and adequate livelihood," said Dr. Tammy Yarom at the event.
The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. (Photo: Elad Gershgoren)
Dr. Yarom, an alumnus of the Technion's engineering faculty, serves as the Vice-Director of Research and Development at Rafael – one of Israel's largest defense and technology companies.
During her lecture, Dr. Yarom encouraged the participants to study engineering at the Technion and said: "I do not believe in affirmative action. Tell yourselves you are good just like the others and even better, and don't stop yourselves because of society. Female employment and economic status creates a better standing in the family, and your life is more interesting and richer."
Women's day, which was held for the fifth year in a row at the Technion, was made in order to raise awareness to the importance of technology and engineering studies for female high school students.
About 200 female high school students studying science and technology participated in the event.
Israel Prize laureate Professor Miriam Erez, a member of the faculty of industrial engineering and management said: "We are making good progressive measures so that there will be a greater presence of women on campus and today female students comprise 40 percent of the general student population who are in their first year of studies at the Technion. Women who chose the technological, engineering or mathematical path will promise themselves economic independence and are a great benefit for the entire economy."
Another Technion engineering graduate Yael David Shiloh, now serving as head of the development team at Intel in Haifa, told the students: "I always loved to dismantle and assemble things. I connect to the practical side and that is why I decided to study mechanical engineering. If you study science or technology, engineering or mathematics, you will promise yourselves a good and independent life."
Dr. Hadas Tischler, a professor who teaches at the Lustig campus for ultra-Orthodox women, who herself is also Haredi, completed a doctorate in neuroscience at Bar Ilan University and today teaches Haredi women mathematics. According to Tischler, "The thing that bothers orthodox women the most is their difficulty understanding English, but in all other professions orthodox women are no less qualified than men.
