Women in Architecture

In the following weeks, we will take a look at some of the most influential women in architecture. Looking back on architectural history, you could be forgiven for thinking that women architects were an invention of the 1950’s, but this could not be further from the truth. Big names like Le Corbusier, Mies, Wright and Kahn often had equally inspired female peers, but their contributions tended to be overlooked.

“Women are the ghosts of modern architecture, everywhere present, crucial, but strangely invisible,” writes historian Beatriz Colomina. “Architecture is deeply collaborative, more like movie-making than visual art, for example. But unlike movies, this is hardly ever acknowledged.”

Architecture is a man’s game. Only 16 percent of the AIA’s membership is female. Forty-nine percent of architecture students and 39 percent of interns are women, but just 17 percent are firm principals and partners, according to a 2012 AIA survey of 2,805 member firms. For some reason, while they’re ascending the architectural career ladder, thousands of women hit a glass ceiling, leave the profession, or get pushed out.

Real-estate development suffers from a similar gender imbalance, as O’Byrne discovered firsthand. According to the Commercial Real Estate Women network (CREW), just 30 percent of all development professionals are women. In fact, developers account for only about 4 percent of CREW’s 8,000 (mostly female) members around the country and are far outnumbered by lawyers, brokers, and property managers.

Both architecture and development lag behind law, medicine, and accounting in the percentage of women represented in each profession, according to research by Catalyst, a nonprofit that promotes women in business.

 

It’s more than possible that we have “overlooked” a few outstanding women who deserve to be mentioned, let us know who you have in mind so we can add her to our discussion!

 

Great Reads & Links:

Association for Women in Architecture and Design

http://awa-la.org/about-us/our-history/

Infographic: Women in Architecture

By: Megan Jett

http://www.archdaily.com/216844/infographic-women-in-architecture/

Keeping Houses, Not Building Them

By: Nicolai Ouroussoff

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/design/31woma.html?_r=0

Architecture’s Lean In Moment

The recent controversy over Denise Scott Brown and the Pritzker Prize served as both a litmus test on the status of women in the field, and a wake-up call for an entire profession struggling for relevancy and respect.

By: Alexandra Lange

http://www.metropolismag.com/July-August-2013/Architectures-Lean-In-Moment/

Double Whammy

Would there be more women in architecture if there were more women in development?

http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/would-there-be-more-women-architects-if-there-wer.aspx