Currently, only 17 percent (2020) of registered architects are women.”
However, the number of women that become registered, achieve upper management levels, become partners and own architectural firms has not increased at the same rate or in the same proportion as their male architectural counterparts. Currently only 17 percent of registered architects are women.
Architecture has long been a male-dominated field. While times are slowly changing, some firms have made a deliberate effort to make their offices more representative of society as a whole by promoting gender equality.
Women's competency and qualifications are often questioned, and they are unable to command authority on job sites. Female role models and mentors are scarce. Male colleagues complain that they do not want to take orders from a woman.
Dame Zaha Hadid is, undeniably, one of the most successful female architects in history. The Iraqi-born British architect became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in 2004, the prestigious gong awarded to living architects who have demonstrated commitment, talent, and vision in their work.
Louise Blanchard Bethune was the first American woman known to have worked as a professional architect. Bethune started her practice in 1881, opening shop in Buffalo at the age of 25 with her husband.
According to a 2020 report in Archinect, only 0.4% of licensed architects in the United States are Black women.
There are over 140,137 Architects currently employed in the United States. 23.3% of all Architects are women, while 76.7% are men.
While overall 71% of those on the Architects Register at the end of 2019 were male and 29% female, the gender split for architects under 30 was exactly 50/50. ARB started collecting equality and diversity information for UK architects in 2012 and, as of 2019, held data for approximately 62% of the Register.
In general, 24.2 percent of employees working as engineers in 2020 are females. It is inspiring to observe approximately 260,000 more females engaged as engineers during the last 3 years.
But, during the initial stages as an architect, every woman goes through a very difficult time, finding their niche or their podium in this 'mostly' patriarchal profession. Unless she has the potential to set her own workspace or identity, she must struggle a lot.
Meet Norma Merrick Sklarek: The First Licensed African-American Female Architect. Norma Merrick Sklarek was a woman of many firsts. Starting in 1954, she was the first African American woman to earn an architecture license in New York, then 12 years later she became the first in California.
4% of registered architects are Black women (even with the recent announcement that there are now officially 500 Black female architects currently living - woohoo!).
Architecture field is one of the good fields for girl children. As in other fields there will be work pressure and work loads. Architecture is more towards designing spaces and not field oriented where you will have to be in site to get work done.
If you know Courtney Brett's name, you probably remember her as the lovely but mysteriously grayscaled millennial who, at 24, became the youngest licensed architect in the history of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Today, the highest earning architect in the world is 77-year-old Norman Foster of Foster and Partners.
The estate's assets were estimated at £67 million ($81 million) after Hadid's death, but are now said to be worth £100 million ($132.8 million) thanks to a lucrative contract with Bulgari.