Roles of Women in Architecture - Essay Example

The statistics that were evident for women in the area of architecture in 2003 showed that 13% were registered architects, 17% made up those in the faculty area of the field, there was no record of a percentile anywhere for those who might have been internists, and 40% were depicted as being students in the area of study (Bussel, 2005). One particular area that portrays women in architecture in the wrong way is the media. There is a common view point felt by many women that they are undermined in this field and therefore are hesitant to stay in the career choice. This is evidenced by the cover on Blueprint magazine in 1994 and the hordes of irate letters that followed the issues publication for that month. Many women felt overlooked by the fact that the cover illustrated only men in the field of architecture when in fact there were women that were professionals as well that could have been included on it but were not. A lot of women in architecture feel this is a form of discrimination which is uncalled for. Blueprints excuse for the situation was that none of the women met the correct guidelines to be on the cover with the men. It is a strong belief that this is just one of the relevant issues that occur that are causing women in the profession of architecture to leave it entirely and move on to careers where they are looked at as equals instead of not as qualified to fulfil their job duties.

As has been previously mentioned, there are various reasons why it seems such a large number of women are leaving this career choice. What is disappointing about this situation is the fact that these women are just as qualified and have a number of excellent skills sufficient enough to do the varied field work and hands on architecture as any man is apse to be able to do.  Many of the problems lie in the fact that this line of work is under proportionate and has a male dominating central theme which drives many women away. Therefore, the term ‘it was the final straw’ definitely has a strong influence on the choice of abandoning this field of work as women become so disappointed in the vast areas of adversity that they come to the point where enough is enough and don’t feel they should have to deal with men questioning their competency in their skills.

For a good percentage of women, the working conditions are just not worth it so they choose to leave for this reason, and again, for a mixture of other deciding factors as well (RIBA 2003). The most coherent of reasons though is how their self-esteem dwindles because of how they are looked upon by men in the field. The attitude of men makes it extremely hard for women to stay focused on their work and feel satisfaction with anything they achieve due to constantly putting up with chauvinistic personalities, as well as the way the employment practice itself is carried out. Other issues have a lot to do with women’s disappointments in architecture also and just a few of these have to do with the insufficient amount of creative opportunities available, poor training, and not providing efficient time to study intricate areas of design, surprisingly, the pay is considerably lower than what the initial perception was, and over all, poor job satisfaction in the complete line of work that architecture holds. This seems to emphasize that many females are disillusioned by this career choice and enter into it perceiving it to be something that it is not (RIBA, 2003).

Over the years the spotlight has shown to be brighter on men and their achievements in this field rather than women.  What seems to be happening is females are passed over and not fully acknowledged for their efforts, no matter how great they might be. The reasoning behind this is architecture is predominantly a male’s field of work and they are often awarded the higher commissions for their endeavours along with the greatest and most honorary awards. Very rarely is it found that a female architect gets nominated for a prestigious position or the opportunity to design a building that will become a landmark (Craven, 2005). However, there are influential and prosperous women in this line of work even though there is not much public knowledge about them. Some of the most inspiring women in architecture have been: Zaha Hadid, Julia Morgan, Denise Scott Brown, Susana Torre,  Marion Mahoney Griffin,  and Anna Kreichline. This is not to say that these are the only women that have found a ludicritive position for themselves as architects because there are many other women in the work as well. However, even these women face much opposition in their career as again; even their achievements have often been undermined and misplaced so that their male counterparts can have the most detailed attention given to them. This is in no way fair to women who strive for excellence in this field but never the less; it is a cold hard fact. The problem is not just with women leaving this profession but it is also in concern to how women are still in this field yet seem to be set in the background and barely distinguishable with the dozens of men architects set as the foreground. This makes it appear that women are almost non-existent in this profession but in reality, this is not the case, although there aren’t as many women continuing in architecture as years passed have shown.