Women in Architecture: Ideals and Reality

Yes, a woman will succeed, because who understands a kitchen better than a woman!” This is the memory from an arabic architect about how her relative encouraged her to study architecture. Today, more and more women start their careers as ambitious architects, but are there still barriers preventing women from succeeding in this field, a field where men usually set the rules? Mr. J, an independent architect spoke to the F-word team about women in architecture and about his personal point of view on feminism.

Mr J architect

Stereotype of architect – a male job – Photo from a Wiki “how to” article

F. word: Please tell us a bit about your profile. Why did you want to become an architect and how did you achieve your goal?

Mr. J: I studied in an art school, l’Ecole Boulle in Paris, then Ecole de la Villette – l’Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris, a Parisian university specialized in architecture. And after that, when I finished my studies, I applied for a job in an architecture agency and worked for the architect who built a médiathèque in my hometown. Thanks to his guidance, I’m now working as an independent architect. I was inspired by him and discovered my passion for architecture through my admiration for his pieces, and it has been about 10 years.

F. word: But, before your studies, did intend on working as an architect or did you have other plans in mind?

Mr. J: Yes, I have always been interested in construction, but not necessarily in architecture. In fact, I have been afraid of this profession because I found the job very complicated. To make a big structure come to life you have to think about all the networks, all of it… I mean, this profession once scared me, which made me think that it was maybe not my thing. But still, I couldn’t abandon my interest in construction. I always liked it. As a kid, I couldn’t stop playing with my Legos. So, at the beginning, I oriented myself towards the creation of furniture, carpentry, this kind of stuff. And that’s why I started at l’Ecole Boulle, which is basically specialized in furniture design . After a while, I found that I was not completely satisfied by that domain, so I wanted to continue my studies in architecture, which is how I became an architect today.

Fword architect

Stereotype of architect – a male job (Courtesy of Credit Foncier)

F. word: Do you see yourself as a good architect? Well, do you think you have built a successful career?

Mr. J: If I’m a good architect? I’m not sure if I know the definition of a “good” architect. I don’t think that an architect has the right to say ‘I’m successful’ or not, since we have to design buildings all along our life. I have this book by Glenn Muscat, an architect who has designed nothing but houses throughout his life. He won the Spritzer prize, the biggest architecture prize in the world. Well I don’t really know the meaning of being a successful architect, because there is a lot to know, a lot to learn, a lot of details, the knowledge of technique. An architect is like an orchestra conductor and the musicians in architecture are the engineers, the statistic centres, other varieties. The apprenticeship of this profession takes several decades. That’s why you can’t be a good architect before 50 years of practicing, so I still need some years to have the pretension to say that I’m a real architect.

F. word: OK, so do you think that man and women have the equal opportunity to succeed in your domain?

Equal recognition for women in architecture, Photo from Impact Design Hub

Equal recognition for women in architecture. (Courtesy of Impact Design Hub)

Mr. J: No, not at all. I’m sorry but not at all. At my agency, we have a bigger proportion of women, I say around 60 percent of women versus 40% of men. I think that the increasing presence of women in architecture is apparently a super good thing. Oh no, actually the intention by saying that it’s a good thing could be already an inequality. So I prefer to say that it’s normal for women to enter this profession, and they bring something different to men’s logic, and some interesting angles. On the contrary, this is actually still a very difficult job for women.

F. word: In which sense?

Mr. J: Well the first difficulty will simply be the construction site, because the chief of the site and the responsible of the company are always men who are somehow sexist and view the coming of women in architecture in an unfavorable light. They have a stereotypical perception of women, they believe that a woman may not understand the dynamics of construction. And it’s really a tough for women to bring an authority on the construction site. I’ve been working in this agency for seven years and I’ve only seen one woman who was capable of leading a big construction site. And if we look back, in the 90s, women are generally paid less than men.  And that’s still the case in many institutions. Our agency has the same salary standard for everyone. Nevertheless, it’s still very complicated for a woman pass from office to the real construction.

F. word: So are there any obstacles preventing women from entering the industry?

Mr. J: No, not at all, I even have impression that more girls major in architecture than boys. Today, when I enter a conference hall, there is a large majority of the students are girls . Maybe the boys are having parties so they are never there. Anyway there are generally more girls in this discipline.

F. word: What’s your general opinion about feminism? Why do you think it exist? Why do people keep talking about it today?

Mr. J: I’m not sure if feminism still exists in our generation, because it came from the labour division in a family, usually women have to take care of kids, women have to take maternity leave, women have to leave work one hour earlier to pick up the kids. But that is the old days, today I don’t really see the difference between my colleagues, male and female. And for the recruitment, I rarely check on the CV if it’s a man or a woman. All of my interest is on their competence, like the software they use, their references.

F. word: But in your private life, did you witness any discrimination?

Mr. J: Yes, but still it’s about the last generation, my mum worked in the insurance field, she was hard-working but she was often paid less than men.

F. word: Do you think that men should be concerned by feminism and that it is for them to be engaged in feminist issues? Do you consider yourself as a feminist?

Mr. J: Yes and no. For example, I’m very careful about my behavior and my expression towards my female colleague. But I think a man declaring “I’m feminist” has already brought sexism on the stage. I’ve followed a program on France Culture  which conducts interviews on feminism, just like what you are doing now, and they ask some women “How does being a woman influence your stance on the issue?” However, when they interview men, they never asked this question. So it’s good to talk about feminism but by saying that “I’m a feminist” this is already an act of sexism for me, this expression is already an act of distinguishing men and women. You know what I mean? I just think there shouldn’t be the concept of feminist. So we should not be feminist nor sexist.

Women bring new energy to architecture-Photo from Hot Rubber

Women bring new energy to architecture (Courtesy of Hot Rubber)

F. word: But if there aren’t feminist, who will speak up about the discrimination women face in their daily life?

Mr. J: Yes, it’s sad, it’s true that there are still many women who suffer from the rules set by men; secretaries, usually women, face harassment from their boss… By the way, why are there so few men working as secretaries or nurses? Maybe we can approach all these problems by an identity other than FEMINIST.

F. word: Do you know the HeForShe campaign from UN? It’s a solidarity campaign for gender equality. The goal is to engage men and boys as agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights, by encouraging them to take action against inequalities faced by women.

Mr. J: I’ve heard a little bit about it.

F. word: If you saw a post by the HeForShe campaign on your Facebook page, would you click to show your support?

Mr. J: Yes of course, but I don’t really have the time to do other manifestation in real life. Architects work a lot.

F. word: Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

 

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