Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Construction sites will be required to be more welcoming to women under a new Illinois law

wbez.org · 3dShare

Zahrah Hill, a foreman and plumber from the West Side, returned to her construction job three months after giving birth to her son and, as a breastfeeding mother, she didn’t have a space to safely express milk. In a matter of months, female construction workers like Hill and others who lactate or menstruate won’t have that same problem under a state law Gov. JB Pritzker signed last month. It’s the culmination of a legislative push in Springfield to make the state’s predominantly male construction industry embrace a new level of diversity that hasn’t existed since Chicago was credited as the place that invented skyscrapers. Hill says that recognition is long overdue. She remembers how, as a new mom, she had to resort to desperate measures after going all day without pumping while on her job site. “I was literally expressing milk into an old coffee cup and dumping it out the window on the way home,” she said. “Just mashing down on my breasts and dumping it out just to relieve some of the

First report: Construction sites will be required to be more welcoming to women under a new Illinois law — suntimes.com, 3d