What next for women architects?

On Monday, I went to the Institute of Architects’ lunch for International Women’s Day, held at the Living Edge Showroom in Peth, and sponsored by Hassell.

It was great to be in a room with about 70 members of the architecture profession –both men and women – talking about women’s representation, discrimination and harassment, ambitions, definitions of success and non-linear career paths.

Keynote speaker Rebecca Moore, WA Government Architect. Photography courtesy of the Institute of Architects, by David Broadway.

The meandering nature of women’s career paths was touched on by both Tanya Jones and Suzie Hunt on the panel, and it was a key theme in Rebecca Moore’s keynote speech. 

Rebecca is the WA Government Architect – the first woman in the role – and she told the story of her career path, from her emergence as a new graduate in Perth in 1989 into a recession, which prompted her to move to London, where she eventually found work in an office where she experienced both pay inequality and harassment from colleagues. Rebecca opted to undergo further tertiary study and later moved back to Perth, where she married. She then to returned to live the UK again, becoming what’s now called a trailing wife when her husband took a job in Dublin. 

At that point, Rebecca hadn’t finished her second Masters degree, so she explained to the audience how she took her six-month old baby to London each week by plane, leaving her baby to be cared for by a friend while she attended class, and then returned home by plane at 8pm to collect her two-year-old from a daycare teacher because her husband was also travelling for work. 

(I’ve heard of juggling work/study and childcare before, but this raises the stakes considerably!)

Back in Perth, Rebecca took a job as an administrator with the State Administrative Tribunal, became a mediator, and spent 15 years there, before being appointed Government Architect last year. Her journey may be atypical when compared with most men, but is probably similar to many other women at a similar point in their careers. It’s not unusual to have changes of direction brought about by trying to juggle parenting with work, and a series of seemingly disconnected jobs that start to make sense 25 to 30 years in, when they all come together into a pleasing whole.

That’s certainly been the case for me, and I’ve heard many other women architects recently talk publicly about their non-linear career trajectories (thank you Parlour, for elevating these important conversations).

Several of the speakers on Monday referenced Justine Clark’s article last week unpacking the theme for this year’s #IWD – Choose to Challenge – and agreed with her assertion that it made them feel slightly uncomfortable, because not every women has the luxury to be able to choose to speak up or challenge the status quo. 

The power imbalance between younger and older, or man and woman, or architect and employer, or architect and client (or all four of those identity pairs) can be too intimidating sometimes.

Rebecca Moore concluded by suggesting that attendees shouldn’t be afraid of speaking up. “We are very lucky and privileged,” she said, adding that women were starting to redefine success. For her, it means “making sure that you contributed from along the way; it’s all about leaving a strong legacy for the future, and enjoying and embracing every day, because we are very fortunate.”

Panellists Suzie Hunt, Rebecca Moore, Tanya Jones and Lara Mackintosh at the IWD Lunch with con. Photography courtesy of the Institute of Architects, by David Broadway.

And Suzie Hunt concurred: “We are all very privileged, so we should use that privilege to help others.” She in turn asked senior practice owners and directors to sit with their younger women staff, and ask them how they are going, especially in light of some of the revelations that were disclosed to her when she was the first woman president of the WA Chapter several years ago.

Towards the end of the formal proceedings, one senior male member of the profession – also a past president of the WA Chapter – then rose to ask a question. No question was forthcoming, but Nigel Shaw did apologise to all the younger women he may have treated poorly in the past. 

He started by referencing Richard Meier – who was “called out” several years ago - saying the US architect was one of his heroes and he’d spent time with him. 

“I’m not ashamed to say that many of us have done inappropriate things and I apologise,” this senior figure said, adding that he’d put some measures in place to start the process of appointing a WA Government architect. “On behalf of all the men I architecture, I’m very proud of all the women in architecture,” he added.

With everything that is going on elsewhere in politics and workplaces, and the challenges that women are facing to enjoy safe workplaces, there was a lot to unpack in this session. Afterwards, I wondered whether younger women architects might be left with more questions than answers about what structures and supports exist to protect and nurture their careers, especially if they should they “choose to challenge”. 

Obviously Parlour has prompted massive progress and we’re seeing more women in senior leadership roles in practices and in government – there are five women Government Architects in Victoria, SA, NSW, WA and the ACT – and many more deans and heads of school (you can read my interviews with some of them on the Parlour website here.).

But according to World Economic Forum projections, it will take another 100 years to achieve global gender equity (see source), and according to the Measure for Measure report: “Australia has dropped from a ranking of 15th in the world when the GGGI commenced to 44th in 2020 – a decline of 29 places in just 14 years.”

That report states: “Over the same time period, Australia’s commitment to measuring gender equality has been in retreat… Australia is one of few developed nations that does not actively set targets for gender equality and measure progress towards nationally agreed goals. As a result, we are falling behind.” (See source)

You can read the latest figures about women in Australia’s construction industry here.

In the UK, all companies with more than 250 staff must report on their gender pay gap, and the RIBA has issued guidelines about how architecture firms can measure and report their progress. You can find those here. 

Since those regulations were introduced in 2017, RIBA has also called for every UK practice with more than 100 staff to choose to report their pay gaps by 2020, and those with 50 staff by 2025. 

Perhaps it’s past time that we introduced similar reporting in medium and large Australian architecture practices, as a way of stimulating progress and change?

Is that workable – do you think? – and what benefits might flow for practices that have eliminated their gender pay gap, and promoted more women in senior leadership roles?

Did you have any niggling questions left unanswered by your IWD events or experiences? Feel free to email me and let me know if you did.