BAR Architects recently formed a discussion and support group amongst women architects and emerging professionals with the goal of empowering each other towards advancement and leadership opportunities within the profession. We share tools and methods with each other for how to get there, bring up relevant personal experiences, discuss articles and books, make internal presentations to the rest of the group for our passion areas, and overall strive to prepare a more fertile ground for women’s advancement both within our office and outside of it in the larger community. This collective knowledge about barriers, histories, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses are helping us cultivate the change we want to see.
We recently invited Rosa Sheng to our office for one of these discussions. Rosa and I met about a year ago before The Missing 32% Project was launched and quickly became friends. She is a Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, a Board of Director at AIA San Francisco and the chairperson for The Missing 32% Project Committee. She has an unmatched passion and drive for this cause.
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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?
KEEP CALM and TAKE THE SURVEY
It has been an amazing launch week. In the first 3 days of the initial PR effort, we have received over 300 responses to the Equity in Architecture Survey. Thank You to those that have taken the time to complete the survey! Additional thanks to those that have sent emails to provide feedback on the survey questions.
Due to the nature of individual circumstances of varying career paths, the survey will not be completely applicable to all situations. Unfortunately, one size does not always fit all. We know that we are light on questions for sole practitioners, small firms, alternative career paths, and the unemployed. Some of you have written to us about this and we have been struggling with these issues since we started this project. Thus our conundrum: limited resources and a very large and varied discussion to cover, deciding where to start, what the "right" questions to ask and who our primary audience would include for Phase 1 were only a few of the many discussions that took place before we even wrote the first question!
Read MoreGender Equity Policy: What we can learn from the Aussies and Brits.
Last week on December 5th, a major breakthrough for gender equity in the profession of architecture was made with the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Council officially approving the organization’s first Gender Equity Policy.
The policy establishes ten best practice principles designed to maximize fair and equitable access to opportunities and participation for women within the architecture profession.
The development of the policy follows the Australian Institute’s involvement since 2011 with the Australian Research Council funded Equity and Diversity in the Australian Architecture Profession: Women, Work and Leadership project, which is led by a large collaborative team of eight scholars and five industry partners.
Studies conducted as part of this project have provided qualitative evidence confirming that the participation rate of women in the profession is disproportionately low compared to the number of women graduates in architecture highlighting the specific need to encourage and provide guidelines for the industry to adopt a comprehensive and ethical approach to establishing gender equality across the field.
Read More‘As careers progress, the barriers for women increase, as evidenced by lower numbers in senior positions and higher attrition rates and the need for part time or flexible work hours when juggling career and parenthood affects women most heavily. This policy will go a long way in readdressing these imbalances.’
Paul Berkemeier, President of Australian Institute of Architects
Courtesy of Wikipedia. The Elephant in the Room
by Banksy Barely Legal, LA 2006
Initiating Equitable Practice: Outing the Elephant in the Room
"Why are women leaving Architecture? and "Why is Architecture is loosing its talent?" The problem seems obvious, while the solution remains complex and somewhat elusive like the proverbial elephant in the room.
Last Friday, a colleague and I gave an office presentation of lessons learned from our attendance at the AIA Women's Leadership Summit in Phoenix. It was a refreshing surprise to see many men, including a Principal and Senior Associates, in attendance. While I didn't know what to expect, I was encouraged by the resulting dialogue between men and women on topics ranging from flexible work schedules for caregivers, an increasing need to align project teams with today's diverse Client profile, as well as the lack of Paid Family leave policy in the US compared to other developed nations; key issues at the tip of the iceberg in the rapidly evaporating Architectural talent pool with women leaving at a faster rate than men. Although the outcome of this particular event was very positive and encouraging, it left me wondering.
"Why do we tend to shy away from having these conversations about the issues that matter most and ultimately affect us all?"Read More
Could Men Do More by Doing Less?
The recent Sunday New York Times featured Hannah Seligson’s article “Page by Page, Men Are Stepping Into the Circle”. Framed by the encouraging news that many male leaders and employees in corporations and upstart tech businesses have begun to embrace the concepts of Sheryl Sandberg’s book, we learn that there are a significant number of men “Leaning In”; embracing ideas about equity in the workplace and learning that the concept of creating a level playing field not only supports the push toward women being promoted for their promise as well as their achievements, but that these same equity concepts have a parallel benefit to men’s lives.
Read MoreMentorship, informally.
For the past three years I have
been mentoring two young architects. We have ended this relationship as
informally as it began, when one found a new position in a great firm
and the other won a design competition abroad.
Read More
Sponsors for Success
The first time I really started thinking about the phrase 'sponsor' is when I read Sheryl Sandberg's book ‘Lean In’. She explains it quite well and it made so much sense to me. There is a fundamental difference between a mentor and a sponsor, and Rosa touched on this in the last post. A sponsor is somebody preferably within your organization who is there, physically and emotionally, who will bat for you. A mentor is a person invested in your growth, but more from the sidelines as opposed to being in the middle of the day-to-day operations. That's how I understand it at least.
While thinking about this, I remembered seeing 'The Hunger Games', a perfect example of how sponsorship works. You might think "What does the movie have anything to do with what we're talking about?", but hear me out...
Read MoreTo get promoted, think Sponsors, not Mentors.
An interesting discussion with
an architect colleague a few nights ago followed by the timely discovery
of this article the next day on Quartz called "To get promoted, Women need Champions, Not Mentors" brings us to an interesting point for discussion. Providing a resounding affirmation within the title, the article references Sylvia Ann Hewlett's book "(forget a mentor) Find a Sponsor" , which makes a compelling case for why Sponsorship is more powerful than mentorship in terms of career advancement.
Who’s pulling for you? Who’s defending your position? Who’s suggesting you for the lead role in the next project? Odds are this person is not a mentor but a sponsor. Mentors can build your self-esteem and provide a sounding board - but they are likely not the ones who will help advance your promotions or career.
Read MoreFamily Friendly Workplace Ordinance: Work/Life in Equality?
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 spouses to maintain their jobs while re-evaluating roles of primary caregiver. The lack of affordable childcare and the 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?
Read More