Gender & Equality: International Women [Architect's] Day

Today on the 8th of March 2022. We're celebrating the success, theories and opinions, female architects are expressing in today's century.

Community of Female Architects

A great start in opening this blog is to introduce you to a committee of female architects working together to create a safe space for women entering and growing in the architectural industry.

Here, Women in Architecture produce events both online and in-person to discuss, report and educate fellow female architects on current matters affecting or impacting the professions of female architects.

(Women in Architecture, n.d.)

Reading Recommendation:

I similarly came across this book, 'Women in Green: Voices of sustainable design by Kira Gould & Lance Hosey'. In my eyes, this is the perfect book for me and could be for any young woman with a passion for sustainability, design & and architecture.

What's Greater is that it's accessible to us uni students! The book is also available in the University of Portsmouth Library. If any of these topics inspire you, I would recommend having a read.

Discussions & Opinions

Article 1: Women are gaining ground in the profession, but not BAME architects

Here, Bruce Tether argues that yes architecture is becoming more gender diverse (which is great) she mentions that it doesn't take away the fact that the industry is still very much lacking racially in its diversity. To some extent, I can sort of relate.

As a young black woman myself, I had recognised even in school the small percentage of students from ethnic minorities applying for degrees or professions in architecture. This could've been for a number of reasons lack of resources, support or connections in the industry. But I think the main one is mainly due to a lack of representation. If we Black girls don't see any black women in the roles we wish to pursue. The likelihood of us achieving it is slim, the same goes for other ethnicities. (Doesn't that make sense, you're not going to go in a role that you can't see or picture yourself doing.)

However, at the same time, I can also say that this statement is also dated since as I've entered the world of architecture in more depth through university I've noticed the population of those in this industry is evermore increasing as access to materials and support become wildly available.

Article 2: Women in architecture always lose out to younger, less experienced men

Now, this one unfortunately a familiar one to us young women in any profession, not just architecture. Although we are processing more than in the past, there is still a significant gap between female and male students in architectural education.

RIBA, unfortunately, confirmed this statistic in 2003 with a UK survey from 2000 displaying that 13% of practising architects were women. Women comprised 38% of students and 22% of teaching staff. More information on the reason behind this can be found in the link below to ArchitectureAU's discussion of women in architecture.

^Women in architecture | ArchitectureAU

References

Happy International Women's Day. (2022, March 8). [Photograph]. When Is Calendars. https://www.wheniscalendars.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/International-Womens-Day-3-768x256.jpg

Gould, K., & Hosey, L. (2007). Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design. Ecotone Publishing.

Tether, B. (2021, August 13). AJ100 2020: Women are gaining ground in the profession, but not BAME architects. The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/aj100-2020-women-are-gaining-ground-in-the-profession-but-not-bame-architects

Hurst, W. (2022, March 15). Women in architecture always lose out to younger, less experienced men. The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/there-wont-be-equality-in-architecture-while-sexism-in-schools-persists

Burns, K. (2011, October 1). Women in architecture. ArchitectureAU. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://architectureau.com/articles/women-in-architecture/#:%7E:text=In%20a%20UK%20survey%20from%202000%2C%2013%25%20of,proportional%20representation%20in%20the%20professions%20is%20slow%20everywhere.