ArchitectureRebecca SibleyJune 07, 2016Architecture, Work, Women, Equity

On equity for women in architecture

ArchitectureRebecca SibleyJune 07, 2016Architecture, Work, Women, Equity

It all began with an article in a weekly newsletter sent by the national AIA. A lively discussion was had via email about the state of women's participation in architecture. My response is below:

My heart does ache in that you have to question the importance of equity in our profession, and the importance of gender equity across workplaces (although I agree that "more inclusive world" is pretty nebulous and a wide reaching statement). The is issue is much larger than a snapshot of the 2011 percentages of occupations by gender shares of employment, which actually highlights the institutionalized discrepancies in the way men and women perceive and chose to pursue education and employment. For example, from the medical field:

Physician assistants - 67% women / 33% men
Physicians and surgeons - 36% women / 64% men <<< Are young boys encouraged more towards math / sciences? What makes them pursue being a doctor, and why are girls not doing the same thing?

The question that [the original AIA] article are asking, along with many other organizations, are along the lines of: why women are leaving the profession (why the drop from 45% of graduates to 25% remaining in the profession?), why the remaining women are not pursuing or getting licensed (18% AIA members, 25.3% in the profession), and why the remaining women are not being promoted within their firms? Losing a large portion of our architectural talent is an issue. The denial of workplace and educational opportunity is a huge challenge. The lack of representation is a huge challenge. The lack of mentorship is a huge challenge. Family and work life balance is a huge challenge. The lack of recognition for those that do make it (ie Denise Scott Brown's missing Pritzker) is a huge challenge. These are things that women in our field are faced with every day in one way or another, and they do affect the perception of women in architecture, and of how women in architecture view themselves.

The Equity by Design project (formerly the Missing 32% Project - like if 50% of our college architecture graduates are women, and only 18% of the total end up being licensed architects, where are the other 32% of our profession who should be there?) has been documenting and researching this trend through national surveys - the results from 2014 were published recently, and the 2016 survey went out a few months ago (I believe our office was sent the link through AIA San Antonio). The 2014 results highlight some interesting pinch points where women leave the profession:

The project goes into detail for each pinch point, which I encourage you all to read. It would be great to look at these and address ways that we could turn these pinch points from challenges to opportunities for growth and excellence.

I also hesitate at the use of the word equality here. I believe equity more accurately reflects the ultimate goal:

I co-founded the AIA San Antonio's Women in Architecture group a little over a year ago, and although I am not involved with it anymore, I remain passionate about this topic and would love to discuss this more at length with you. I will leave you guys with one of my favorite infographics below (from here):