ABSTRACT
In 2016, the late Zaha Hadid was the first woman to receive the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal in her own right. It was a fitting accolade for the most famous architect – male or female – on the planet. Women make up as much as 46% of those entering architectural education and 25% of the profession. In 2015, 42% of those who applied to register as architects with the United Kingdom’s Architects Registration Board were women. The ‘Women in Architecture’ survey gives some valuable insight into why women are not staying in the profession. 61% of respondents said they had experienced sexism at their work, and 40% reported discrimination at client meetings. Aside from cases of overt discrimination, an important factor in the flow of women from the architecture profession is the family-hostile added to the reality of childcare responsibilities falling disproportionately to women rather than men.
