Are Female Architects Underrepresented?
Announcement posted by DesignBuild Source 11 Jul 2012
The building industry at large has always been male-dominated. Many sectors, including construction and engineering are still stereotypically seen as highly masculine workplaces, with male interest, employment and leadership far outweighing that of their female counterparts.
According to Dr. Naomi Stead of the University of Queensland,Australia’s architecture industry also shows this same gender representation equality.
A new website has been launched to foster discussion around the under-representation of women in architecture.
“The architecture profession likes to think of itself as a progressive, equitable meritocracy, but unfortunately that’s just not the case,” says Stead. “While we don’t believe that explicit prejudice or discrimination is a significant problem in the profession in Australia, we do know that there is implicit bias, a lack of pay equity, and that women as a group are not remaining in the profession, and progressing to leadership positions.”
In response to this reality, Stead co-created ‘Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture’, an online forum edited by Justin Clark of the University of Melbourne. The site features research, informed opinions and support for women in architecture.
The site aims to address a wide range of issues that affect women architects both nationally and internationally, including work/life balance and flexible conditions.