Women
In Architecture
Of what historic and contemporary concern is it that the architecture
profession has been, and continues to be, strongly male dominated in Australia
(currently 90% of registered architects in NSW are men). Ideally, what
proportion of the profession should women occupy and why? From the start of
human history, we always experience certain level of inequality between sexes.
It can be seen everywhere around the world and is a concern to everyone, both
men and women. This inequality is an important issue within the workforce of
many professions, such as being an architect, landscape architect, city planners
and designers within the built environment. Industrial revolution is the onset
for women to become segregated from home, creating greater spatial division to
impact on gender roles. There is common concept between the relationship of
public and private space with male and female as described by Kate Lyons. This model represents the suburbanisation occurring in the late 19th
century and the early 20th century.
Built Environment awardsMany suburban women are forced within their
daily activities due to the constraints on accessibility and mobility in
low-density suburbs and lead to a feeling of being isolated from the inner city.
These constraints of this gender role affect the women's ability in the broader
professions within the built environment, as they were restricted at home.
"... Architects do not like to employ women in their offices; contractors
do not like to build from their plans; people with money to spend do not like to
entrust its expenditure to a woman." This is probably due to the fact that
women are kept at home without 'knowing much' of the 'outside world'; the design
professions have intrigued women into marginal roles. Architects and other
similar professional fields "have perceived women not as profession but as
passive clients."...