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There has been much discussion raised about "Why are women leaving Architecture? and more broadly, Why is the profession losing key talent?"  Both women and men practitioners are disillusioned by the myth of work/life balance: Women are grappling with "have it all" expectations of juggling family time with the demands of full-time work.  Men are struggling to support their families solely on an architect's salary and fall back on asking spouses to maintain their jobs. The lack of affordable childcare and high cost of living only magnifies the challenges.  How did we end up in this modern family dilemma? What can we do to improve the situation?

EQxD 2015 Recap + 2016 Call for Volunteers

by Rosa Sheng, AIA

Happy Holidays! We are grateful for all the support, interest, and dialogue with all of you equity champions this past year. We wish you all the peace, joy, hope and the best that the season brings.

2015 has been an amazing year for Equity by Design and also for the Equity in Architecture movement; EQxD hit the road with our team members sharing the findings from the survey in cities across the U.S. as well as abroad in Lisbon, Portugal! The EQxD Hackathon made its debut at AIA National Convention in Atlanta in May. EQxD also inaugurated blog series opening discussion up in previously taboo topics such as motherhood, bias and privilege in the profession. EQxD "U" prototyped Workshops based on the popular break-out sessions from the symposium; Job Satisfaction, Work/Life Flex, Negotiation, and Architecture And.  "Why Equity in Architecture Matters" was a featured talk at TEDxPhiladelphia and KQED's well known FORUM radio program. AIA Resolution 15-1: Equity in Architecture was passed by the member delegates in Atlanta, which will result in the strategic work of the Equity in Architecture Commission in 2016. The Equity Alliance took one more step towards reality with the successful Teespring fundraiser. Finally events like the AIA Women's Leadership Summit in Seattle, as well as other conferences such as Powerful in Los Angeles. And similar events are taking place across the nation to support WikiD: Women in Wikipedia campaign launched by Parlour, Architexx and backed by Women in Design, Beverly Willis Foundation, and aligned organizations nationally and abroad.

 

Call for EQxD Volunteers in 2016

While it would be great to take a rest and celebrate all the amazing "bites" taken from our proverbial whale this year, there is still much to do in 2016 and we are looking for more champions for our future projects. Thus far, we have the following initiatives in progress:

 

  • AIASF EQxD Sponsored "Equity in Architecture Survey" - February/March 2016
  • AIASF EQxD Sponsored "Equity by Design Symposium" - Fall of 2016
  • AIA National Convention in Philadelphia - May 18-21, 2016
  • Equity by Design Blogs - All year long in 2016
  • #EQxDChats on Twitter - Bi-monthly in 2016 

Upcoming EQxD "Equity in Architecture Survey" Topic Workshops

If you would like to participate as a volunteer for the survey we will need help with the getting feedback on the topics that will be covered this year. If interested, please fill out the contact form above and indicate in the last box which date/topic you would like to join. We will send a calendar invite w/ the dial in information prior to the call in date so that you can participate.

  • 12/22: Licensure & Professional Development
  • 12/29: Education, Hiring, and General Retention
  • 1/5: Working Caregivers & Work-Life Flexibility 
  • 1/12: Glass Ceiling Factors - Implicit Bias, In-Group Favoritism, etc.
  • 1/19: Architecture And - Exploring Alternative Career Tracks