ABSTRACT
The number of women working in architecture in Germany is growing, and between 2008 and 2014 their share increased from 29% to 43%. Taking this all-women class as a point of departure and considering the impending feminisation of the profession, this chapter examines the following question: how will an influx of women transform architectural practice in Germany? The numbers of women students may be growing steadily, but the gendered nature of German language shapes professional identity, lends meaning to construction and building, and also poses a challenge to the feminine professional. Unlike English, German has three cases, and all substantives are either masculine, feminine, or neutral. Gender-conforming adjectives reinforce the case, or ‘gender’, of the substantive. Language indicates a gender for the professional, for all aspects of higher education, practice, even technology, impeding other interpretations from taking hold.
