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The potential for gender equality in architecture: an Anglo-Spanish comparison a

Valerie Caven & Elena navarro Astor

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Division of HRM, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Newton Building Level 7, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK b

Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, ETS de Ingeniería de la Edificación I Dpto, Organización de empresas Edificación, Valencia, Spain Version of record first published: 15 Feb 2013.

To cite this article: Valerie Caven & Elena navarro Astor (2013): The potential for gender equality in architecture: an AngloSpanish comparison, Construction Management and Economics, DOI:10.1080/01446193.2013.766358 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.766358

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The potential for gender equality in architecture: an Anglo-Spanish comparison VALERIE CAVEN1* and ELENA NAVARRO ASTOR2 1

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Division of HRM, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Newton Building Level 7, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK 2 Universidad Polite´cnica de Valencia, ETS de Ingenierı´a de la Edificacio´n I Dpto, Organizacio´n de empresas Edificacio´n, Valencia, Spain Received 28 May 2012; accepted 9 January 2013

The practice of architecture is very similar in different national settings despite what may be very different sociological and cultural origins of the profession, the attendant variances in how work is organized and distinctions in equality and gender roles. The aim of this paper is to examine the quest for equality in architecture for women in the UK and Spain reporting the findings of a comparative study into women architects’ careers in the two countries. Within the qualitative paradigm, semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with a total of 55 women architects in the UK and Spain. Findings indicate surprising differences in levels and terms of equality for women in the two countries and marked differences in women’s experiences of working as an architect. Women have come to the profession in Spain much later than their British counterparts and, somewhat surprisingly, are present in greater numbers. However, despite there being more of a ‘critical mass’ this has not served to improve their situation; they report much higher levels of discrimination and find it difficult to progress in their careers. Conclusions argue for a stronger approach by the professional bodies to help improve the position of women.

Keywords: Architect, equal opportunities, Spain, UK, women.

Introduction The study of the position of women architects in the UK and Spain and their quest for equality provides us with a series of interesting and contradictory puzzles. Women have had a much longer tradition of involvement with architecture in the UK (Walker, 1989) whereas in Spain they have come to the profession much later——the first woman to qualify did so in 1936 (Sa´nchez de Madariaga, 2009, 2010) compared to the UK where there were already 19 women architects in England and Wales at the time of the 1891 census (Walker, 1989). During the Franco regime women’s involvement in any form of paid work was restricted; it is only the reintroduction of democracy after 1977 (and suppression of the attendant discriminatory legislation from that era) coupled with widespread changes in gender relations, social and political environments along with the subsequent liberalization of planning laws which have led to rapid

growth in the numbers of women in the profession (Sa´nchez de Madariaga, 2010; Agudo and Sa´nchez de Madariaga, 2011). Despite their late entry to the profession Spanish women are present in much larger numbers and account for 29% of qualified architects and 57% of new entrants (Sa´nchez de Madariaga (2010))——in the UK, the figures are 19% and 38% respectively (Royal Institute of British Architects, 2010). It is difficult to offer explanations as to why this differential exists other than as a response to labour shortages caused by the building boom which followed the planning deregulation as the gender relational, social and political changes occurred much earlier in the UK but have done little to improve the position of women in the profession.

Spanish women do not enjoy the same opportunities for flexible working as their UK counterparts (Moreno, 2008; Caven et al., 2012); childcare is limited and usually provided by grandmothers (Saraceno, 2011; Giminez-Nadal et al., 2012). Spain is still very

*Author for correspondence. E-mail: valerie.caven@ntu.ac.uk Ó 2013 Taylor & Francis

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much a patriarchal society (Aguilera, 2004) but a paradox exists in that women are being encouraged to enter the architecture profession by their families (Caven et al., 2012). In the UK numerous initiatives exist designed to encourage women into construction industry professions but appear to be limited in their success (Caven and Diop, 2011). It is these inconsistencies between the two countries and what they mean for women architects that we intend to examine in this paper. Our conclusions will aim to identify particular areas of concern for those involved with implementing policy initiatives by highlighting areas of weakness in current practice.

Equal opportunities in architecture: the case of the UK and Spain While we are adopting a Euro-centric approach here there is clear evidence that the lack of diversity in architecture is apparent the world over. The relationship between gender and architecture is increasingly well documented (Rendell et al., 2000; Findley, 2005; Dovey, 2008; Awan et al., 2011) and suggests that gender and equality are not just theoretical issues but have huge implications for practice. Recent reports (Corvin, 2012) show that sex discrimination, pay differentials and career blocks are still prevalent in the profession. Other formerly male-dominated professions such as medicine and the law have had far greater success in achieving a more gender balanced membership.

The matter of the barriers faced by women in the UK architecture profession is well documented with contributions from (to name but a few) De GraftJohnson et al. (2003) looking at why women leave the profession, Fowler and Wilson (2004) identifying both the accommodating and ‘usurpatory’ strategies adopted by the women who remain in the profession, as well as the stress suffered by them (Sang et al., 2007). Dainty et al. (2000) argue that men adopt both covert and overt forms of discrimination against women using structural systems but that women’s coping mechanisms help perpetuate such exclusionary tactics.

There also appears to be little enthusiasm within the profession to attempt to address the issue. For example, the Architect’s Handbook of Practice Management (Lupton, 2005) in the UK contains no reference to equality issues other than listing the basic requirements of the various Acts relating to sex and race discrimination, obligations towards disabled workers, trade union members and the rights of part-time workers. Rather patronizingly the poor position of women in the profession is mentioned as follows: ‘It

Caven and Astor is often deplored that women architects are a small proportion of the practising profession, and it is clear that more practical initiatives are needed to help young women cope with the often conflicting demands of family and the profession’ (Lupton, 2005, p. 92). Immediately childcare is identified as a woman’s ‘problem’ and no mention is made of the need to encourage sensible working arrangements for all members of the profession.

The Handbook continues: Architectural practices are unlikely to have the resources to provide childcare facilities in-house, but they might consider other kinds of support, such as agreeing flexible working hours or making a contribution if employees want to pay others to look after their babies so that they can return to work. This kind of support should also be offered to non-technical as well as technical staff; the administrative and secretarial staff are often the backbone of a practice, and should not be forgotten. (Lupton, 2005, p. 92)

In addition the Royal Institute of British Architects Code of Professional Conduct Guidance Note 8 referring to Employment and Equal Opportunities (www. architecture.com) refers solely to legislative requirements.

As an employing organization the Royal Institute of British Architect’s own Equal Opportunities Policy has remained unchanged since February 2005 (Royal Institute of British Architects, 2012). De Graft-Johnson et al. (2003) recommended in their report Why Do Women Leave Architecture (Commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects) that, among other recommendations, there should be better dissemination of employment legislation and good practice; and equal opportunities practice should be included in the professional bodies’ codes of practice.

In addition to the recommendations for action, the researchers advocated ‘wider research to look at the profession as a whole and particularly to explore the nature of the conditions that provide an environment where women can thrive as architects [thus being of benefit] to the profession as a whole’ (De Graft-Johnson et al., 2003, p. 4). There is little evidence to convince us that any account has been taken of these findings.

During 2007 Spain implemented Directives 2002/ 73/EC and 2004/113/EC as ‘codes of law’ requiring companies with more than 250 employees to introduce an equality plan aimed at promoting greater opportunities for women. However after a brief improvement the current position is actually worse than before the legislation was introduced (Chinchilla and Kraunsoe, 2012; Gutie´rrez Mozo and Pe´rez del

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Gender equality Hoyo, 2012). Citing poor work-life balance issues (for example the working day frequently extends to beyond 12 hours owing to the extended lunch break), Chinchilla and Leo´n (2005) argue the existence of a ‘concrete ceiling’ where women see the impact on their career if they were to be promoted before deciding it would have too great a negative impact on their family life. They then opt to remain at a level where their work and family responsibilities are ‘satisficed’.

The fact that Spain is also one of the European countries where support of any kind is least available for children under three (Saraceno, 2011) might be constraining women’s decisions as well. Saurel-Cubizolles et al. (1999) suggest there is still an element of conflict in Spanish society following structural change from being strongly familist to becoming much more feminist. They argue that while this has helped women’s position in the workplace, there is still a long way to go in terms of producing change in the home with family work considered a woman’s responsibility with ‘non-domestic work [as] “a welcome addition”’ (Tobio, 1994 cited by Saurel-Cubizolles et al., 1999, p. 192). Indeed as Hakim (2008) argues, true equality will never be attained in professions like architecture as women make conscious decisions regarding the restriction of their involvement rather than being passive victims.

While we consider the Handbook advice to be patronizing and argue that it falls far short of encouraging the employment of women, it is far greater provision than that which exists for the Spanish women who are hardly served by any profession-specific initiatives. Indeed, as we found,1 the ‘Consejo Superior de Colegios de Aequitectos de Espan˜a’——an umbrella organization for the architecture professional bodies in Spain——keeps very little in the way of records nor are any contributions made to the sector study commissioned by the Architects’ Council of Europe (Mirza and Nacey Research Ltd, 2010). Indeed, Sa´nchez de Madariaga (2010) mentions the paucity of information on the profession in Spain referring to the ‘absence of specific studies’ (p. 206) and the ‘scant data provided by the Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a Survey 2007’ (p. 207) before going on to say that ‘we can infer, although without further data to support our assertion, that in Spain many women also leave architecture’ (p. 207).

Thus, based on what Sa´nchez de Madariaga (2010) reports on the position of Spanish women architectural academics in terms of there being a glass ceiling, we can infer that this will apply to the wider profession.

The study by Molina and Laquida´in (2009), drawing on the work of Sa´nchez de Madariaga (2009), is the only initiative that has been commissioned by the

3 Consejo Superior de Colegios de Aequitectos de Espan˜a with the aim of exploring the situation of women architects in the profession. The results show that there is no vertical integration of women in the profession: they are not getting posts of responsibility and visibility. In fact they are entering the less valued spheres of the profession. The authors suggest that in order to change the situation ‘just carrying out reports will not improve equality in the profession, but there has to be a compromise for encouraging and promoting structural changes’ (Molina and Laquidain, 2009, p. 48). Indeed denial is prevalent in Spain and as Gutie´rrez Mozo and Pe´rez del Hoyo (2012) point out there is both a refusal to acknowledge the ‘problem’ coupled with a belief that ‘it’ has already been solved.

UK initiatives began much earlier than in Spain with organizations such as the Women’s Design Service and Matrix created during the 1980s especially to offer a distinctly feminist perspective to buildings and architecture. Their aim was also to directly challenge the masculinist tall tower phallic imagery of architecture which ‘can also be constructed on the schoolyard game of “mine’s bigger than yours”!’ (Dovey, 2008, p. 135). Other initiatives in the UK include the Women in Architecture group which was set up in 1999 after existing from 1985 as the Women’s Architecture Group. Its aim was to provide networking opportunities, lobby for better conditions for women, raise the profile of women in the profession and provide taster sessions for schoolgirls. However it has now been subsumed into the Architects for Change initiative set up by the Royal Institute of British Architects which aims to cover all diversity issues (www.architecture.com).

The 50:50 Charter was set up by Building Design (a weekly magazine aimed at architects) aimed at promoting their cause of achieving parity in numbers of men and women. Despite adopting some dubious methods (e.g. door-stepping practices, naming and shaming practices) the initiative was declared a success by its organizers and disbanded. Others were less convinced by the claim of success highlighting that its aim was only to ‘make’ women equal to men rather than providing a means for feminine and feminist qualities to be valued on their own terms (Boys and Thomas, 2010).

‘Chicks with Bricks’ (www.chickswithbricks.com) was a group founded in 2005 as ‘a celebration of women in the built environment’ and existed primarily for networking purposes but has now become incorporated into the People in Space network. What is evident is the gimmicky nature of the initiatives as well as the short-term nature of them. The transient nature may serve to deter women from becoming involved with them. On the other hand we hear so

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Caven and Astor

much of the problems associated with long working hours in architecture that we suggest that quite simply women do not have the time to become involved with them.

The support available for Spanish women is less industry-specific and focuses on developing women generally, drawing on European Union funding, for example, particularly via the EQUAL Community Initiative which aims to promote equality for women and the ADAPT, LEADER and EMPLEO provisions funded by the European Social Fund which provide support for new businesses (Pardo-del-Val and RibeiroSoriano, 2007). While the support, training and aid are invaluable here the focus on new business start-ups means that in order to benefit women are encouraged to set up small businesses. In architecture this serves merely to reinforce their poor position as small architectural practices cannot compete with the large ones for the highly prestigious and large-scale projects which contribute towards career development.

While the lack of initiatives to attract women to the profession in Spain has been highlighted (Garcı´a Rosales, 2009; Le Maignan and Sa´nchez de Madariaga, 2009), the only visible initiative is ‘La Mujer Construye’ (Women who build) set up in 1995 (www.lamujerconstruye.org). It was developed as an association of professionals connected to habitat design and aims to support, spread and promote architecture and the contribution of women architects to the design of built spaces (Garcı´a Rosales, 2009).

In contrast to the UK where there is no trade union specifically representing the interests of architects, the Sindicato de Arquitectos de Espan˜a exists to defend professionals’ labour rights. The Sindicato contends that architectural practices have ruined the social prestige of the profession because of employment insecurity and poor working conditions (Arquitectos, 2011). It is noticeable that among its objectives there is no mention of gender equality especially when 75% of its board of directors are women.

(the East Midlands branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects in the UK and the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de la Comunidad Valenciana y de Castilla la Mancha in Spain) and 55 agreed to take part (the high response rate gives an indication of the willingness of the women to tell their ‘stories’). During qualitative in-depth interviews in the qualitative paradigm (and questioned by native speakers in each case) the women were asked questions about what had attracted them to the architecture profession in the first instance, their experiences of the studying process and how their careers had developed since qualifying. Further questions focused on identifying career drivers and obstacles as well as rewards, satisfactions and dissatisfactions (the interview schedule of topics and questions was drawn from earlier work by Caven, 2004, 2006). We deliberately did not ask about discrimination and related difficulties but if the issue was raised by the women we asked further follow up questions. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. Analysis was carried out using a grounded in theory approach (see Caven et al., 2012 for a full discussion) which allows us to identify the key themes arising while not denying how theory has influenced our line of questioning.

The age range of the UK sample was 27–72 and included two retirees, one who was unemployed and another who was taking an extended career break.

The age range of the Spanish women was 27–60 and included three who were unemployed and one who was still taking the professional exams. The women were employed in a variety of settings including both private and public sector, urban and rural practices.

Over half of the UK sample had an element of flexibility in their working arrangements (either flexi-time, part-time working or self-employment) while the Spanish women had none.

Methods

We begin our discussion here with an analysis of the experiences of women architects and the difficulties they have experienced in their working lives. Effectively, the barriers existed at three levels: micro (within the firms and by colleagues), meso (the wider working environment involving clients and construction site workers) and macro (the wider social, cultural, political and economic context). We will now examine these in turn.

A cross-national comparative study was undertaken to compare and contrast the experiences of women in the two countries. The practice of architecture is fundamentally the same in each country (Davenport, 2000); what is different is the setting in which it takes place. There are considerable political, economic and social factors at play which can significantly impact on the ‘lived experience’ of being an architect.

Initially a total of 67 women were contacted via the membership lists of the respective professional bodies

Barriers faced by women in the practice of architecture

Micro level Many of our respondents, in both the UK and Spain, reported instances where they were discriminated

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Gender equality against or instances of harassment from their employers and/or colleagues in the professional environment. Two told us how they had been bullied by their line managers when they worked for a local authority——an environment which is subject to policies and directives on appropriate behaviour at workto the extent where both took their respective employers to a tribunal. Because we interviewed women in a particular region we heard several times the same employer’s name being mentioned——this employer has a long history of recruiting young women but then, it appears, treating them badly, paying them at lower rates than their male counterparts as well as sexually harassing them. Another told us of how a much junior male colleague had been given use of a company car by their employers and when she questioned it she was told that she had a husband to look after her and the male colleague was the main breadwinner in his household so he was considered a more ‘deserving’ case.

In contrast to the bullying and harassment experienced by some of the women, we also heard of male employers being discriminatory while purporting to have the well-being of their female employees at heart. By acting in a paternalistic manner, they portray the image of an ‘old-fashioned gentleman’ and appeared to be unaware of the impact of their actions: indeed the traditional gender roles are reflected here by a Spanish 35-year-old interviewee who said: it might seem like a cliche´ but in some cases, the fact of being a woman might hinder your career. If I was a man there would be some parts of the job that I would have access to … it would have been easier for me to go on site, or to carry out projects with more autonomy. My bosses were the ones going on site, my work had to do with the plans and I stayed in the practice … because we are supposed to be tidier and calmer. I’ve been told sometimes that they prefer women for this job.

A further Spanish interviewee commented that some employers preferred to hire women as ‘we aren’t as competitive, we complain less, we are less ambitious, we work harder and we are more faithful …’. Another complained that she was not allowed to deal with clients highlighting how workloads are divided with women producing the drawings and other project documents while men retain control of the social relationships with clients. As Agudo and Sa´nchez de Madariaga (2011, p. 167) contend women architects ‘are pushed into the background, becoming invisible for the client, taking on the work inside the practice

with little attention’ thus maintaining occupational segregation.

Meso level Here we examine barriers in a broader context than purely that of the workplace paying attention to the wider environment in which an architect operates, namely with clients and contractors. In general, the UK women reported few problems with attending construction sites (although our evidence directly contradicts findings in the Architects’ Journal survey reported by Corvin, 2012); we suggest that there are two explanations why this is the case. First, the balance of power here lies with the architect, whose role is to reject substandard work——in other words, contractors do not want to antagonize her/him. Secondly, many construction sites in the UK now have a policy preventing workers from engaging in banter, whistling and the like, thus promulgating a more respectful culture than has traditionally been associated with construction. We heard anecdotal evidence about female architects who had refused to visit sites but our sample reported that they were, in the main, treated with respect.

The situation was somewhat different in Spain, however, with several women reporting they did not enjoy working on sites. A 58-year-old interviewee, director of the School of Architecture in Valencia, recalls her first experiences on site in the 1980s: Women do have a time, you would go tling at you, and director. I suddenly

handicap there, especially at the on site and they would start whisyou’re supposed to be the site started disliking the site.

As a 27-year-old participant who is married to an architect reports, the situation on site remains unchanged: Of course they don’t take me seriously!! When my husband goes on site to talk to the workers with his strong voice, nobody complains. If it was me with my soft voice and my angel face we’d see if they pay any attention to me … Construction workers don’t take a woman seriously, you’re just a beautiful face for them and that’s all. They wouldn’t take notice of us.

Client organizations were also seen as problematic in perpetuating gender stereotypes. One of our interviewees was restricted to designing small projects because a developer ‘wouldn’t place his investment in the hands of a woman, especially if she’s young’ (43year-old Spanish respondent). Our interviewee here felt her career opportunities were being restricted as

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6 she was not being given a chance to prove herself.

This type of attitude on the part of clients is difficult to change and architectural firms are forced to accept that their client will go elsewhere if they lack confidence in the staff. This is indicative of business needs being put before those of staff (Raide´n et al., 2006).

In a similar vein two of our UK interviewees who occupied high level positions in their organizations (one was the principal and the other was an ‘associate’ in a practice which indicates a position of seniority) reported how they were ignored and overlooked at meetings by the male clients and their representatives. The associate told of the exclusionary nature of pre- and post-meeting conversations focusing on football while the principal recounted how she had taken a male student to a site meeting with her only to find all the questions were directed towards him despite her evident seniority. Another principal spoke of how one workman pointed her out to his colleague ‘as I walked past he said “that’s the architect” to his mate who replied “it can’t be, it’s a woman!”’

Macro level In this section we will examine the wider societal issues which exist as a barrier to women’s advancement and equal treatment. Earlier we looked at the existence of equal opportunity policies and legislation in both the UK and Spain and suggested that legislation was not particularly effective as most policies were aimed at large-scale organizations and architecture tends to be practised on a much smaller scale.

Despite both countries being subject to the same EUgenerated legislation and policies, the way they are interpreted varies. The UK has gone much further than Spain in the adoption of work-life balance initiatives and family-friendly working arrangements even though as Caven and Raide´n (2010) argue there is still much to be done in relation to the construction industry. This is illustrated by a Spanish respondent saying ‘it would look bad if a man said “I can’t attend the meeting because I have to pick up my son”’. This clearly reflects the contradiction between the new position of women in the Spanish labour market and the traditional social organization that does not seem concerned by the change (Tobı´o, 2001). As a matter of fact new practices in employment have not been matched by new practices in the family and most women deal individually with the work-family conflict, often relying on other women who play the role of the housewife while they are at work (mostly the grandmothers or domestic service paid for that job).

According to Moreno (2008) this strong family and inter-generation micro-solidarity has perversely allowed a limited and passive state intervention, in

Caven and Astor many cases ‘unfriendly’ towards working mothers.

Motherhood is consistently cited as being the single biggest barrier to professional integration in both countries (Molina and Laquida´in, 2009; Agudo and Sa´nchez de Madariaga, 2011; Corvin, 2012).

Attitudes have changed sufficiently in the UK to accommodate childcare commitments but again referring to Raide´n et al. (2006) and their suggestion that the business need is considered of greater importance than individual or personal requirements, the actual practice of this (by a man or a woman) is frequently frowned upon by employers with one UK architect saying ‘it’s not seen as the thing to do consistently’.

In this wider context we have evidence of conflicting societal attitudes regarding childcare hindering women’s prospects.

Certainly, the poor position and prospects for women architects were not matters that were considered by any of the women prior to choosing architecture as a career in either the UK or Spain. Some of the UK women reported that their careers advisers tried to steer them away from architecture and into more feminized professions such as nursing or teaching but this served to make them more determined to become an architect. The Spanish women were encouraged by their families to enter the profession to a much greater extent than were those in the UK. This appears to be somewhat incongruous: we have discussed earlier the extent of patriarchal gender relations within Spanish society, yet these same patriarchs are encouraging their daughters to enter a male-dominated profession. One of the Spanish women reflected on the difficulties of challenging the prevailing societal sexist attitudes: my father was a completely liberal man [but] at that time Spain was a country where sexism was the norm … my education was liberal, however society wasn’t and we women had to have a very happy husband, [who was] very well-dressed and almost showing off sexist attitudes

This contrasts with some of the Spanish women who wanted to study more Arts-based subjects but who were prevented from doing so by their families as they were not considered to be viable career options and were ‘encouraged’ to study architecture as a compromise.

Further evidence of conflicting attitudes towards architecture as an appropriate career for women comes from two of the UK respondents who qualified in Greece and Turkey——both noted for the patriarchal nature of their societies——who both mentioned how architecture in their countries was actually considered a feminine profession with women being

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Gender equality actively encouraged to pursue it as a career. Mirza and Nacey Research Ltd (2010) provide additional support by indicating that in countries where the population of the profession is relatively ‘young’, e.g. in the former Soviet countries of Eastern Europe, women are present in much greater numbers. A lack of consistency is clearly apparent. Certainly this can go some way towards explaining the low numbers of women architects in the UK which means that attention must turn towards the governing bodies of the profession which we argue should take better steps to address the lack of equality.

The profession is dominated by small firms which are exempt from much formal legislation and as such are unlikely to introduce their own initiatives unless encouraged by the professional bodies. In the UK they need to be less gimmicky and directed at the entire profession rather than just existing as networking opportunities for women. An example of the lack of awareness of women’s needs was highlighted by one of the UK interviewees who was taking an extended career break. She explained that the Royal Institute of British Architects offer refresher courses for women such as herself who had taken a break but that they were held only in London which, as she commented, reflected the long hours and long distance culture prevalent in the profession and did not acknowledge women’s caring responsibilities.

Certainly none of the women interviewed was involved with any of these initiatives although women in both countries felt there was more that the professional bodies could do to help the position of women in the profession.

Conclusion The picture we have painted above presents a bleak view of the current position of women architects in both the UK and Spain in terms of any movement towards equality. The UK has a much longer-standing history of equality initiatives, via both the legal system and industry-specific campaigns, as well as opportunities for flexible and part-time working.

However, as we have seen, it lags behind in the number of women in the profession. We contend that the UK situation is not helped by the lack of encouragement on the part of the professional body which tends to play a reactive and relatively passive part rather than a proactive role in any attempts at redressing the balance. Certainly the Architect’s Handbook of Practice Management clearly identifies childcare as a woman’s issue (problem) but offers no backing for encouraging practices to adopt ‘sensible’ working hours identified by De Graft Johnson et al. (2003) as

7 a major reason for women leaving the profession or other policies aimed at ensuring a better work-life balance for all (men and women). To date equality initiatives have been introduced by women for women with no challenge to the dominant male population of the profession to alter or adapt their existing work practices to accommodate women.

Conversely Spain, which has a legacy of strong patriarchal gender relations and no record of any campaigns aimed at encouraging women into the profession, shows a much greater number of women practising, albeit at low levels. Here we can offer the explanation that it is the combination of employers/colleagues preventing women’s advancement within organizations and the poor provision of childcare meaning that many women are forced into self-employment in order to juggle family and work which hinder career development.

We contend here that despite the absence of equality initiatives which we have already suggested are by women for women, there is no ‘real’ incentive to change and without this the situation will remain static.

While both countries are subject to legislation from the EU, it is directed at the larger organization whereas in architecture the norm is for small to medium sized practices which are exempt from the bulk of initiatives. The HR function in these small firms is not usually separate from the owner-manager role and it is all too easy to overlook equality issues. However Murray (2012) points out that paying a woman less than a male colleague for doing the same job is actually illegal whatever the practice size. In addition there is currently an over-supply of architects owing to the ongoing economic downturn which means that employers can practise covert exclusion of women by favouring male applicants. Thus the situation is perpetuated by the dominant male employers and co-employees who, we argue, will see no reason to challenge the status quo.

Thus, the challenges for those involved with diversity initiatives include how to reach these small organizations which are outside legal requirements in terms of quota or policy obligations; how to incentivize these owner-managers of these small firms to adopt a more open-minded approach to recruitment.

We feel there is a much greater role to be played by the professional bodies and they should become much more proactive in addressing the issue.

Likewise more research is needed to examine why the structure of the profession is so much more gender-balanced in Eastern Europe and whether any areas of ‘good practice’ can be adopted. Also professions which have achieved more in the way of gender parity such as medicine and the law should be investi-

8 gated to highlight how this has been achieved and whether they can be used as potential models for architecture.

Note 1. Telephone conversation between one of the authors and a representative of Consejo Superior de Colegios de Aequitectos de Espan˜a.

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References Agudo, Y. and Sa´nchez de Madariaga, I. (2011) Construyendo un lugar en la profesio´n: trayectorias de las arquitectas espan˜olas. ‘Feminismos’. Revista del centro de estudios sobre la mujer de la Universidad de Alicante, 17, 155–81.

Aguilera, R. (2004) Corporate governance and employment relations: Spain in the context of Western Europe, in Pendleton, A. and Gospel, H. (eds) Corporate Governance and Labour Management: An International Comparison, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 197–225.

Awan, N., Schneider, T. and Till, J. (2011) Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Routledge, Abingdon.

Boys, J. and Thomas, K.L. (2010) The changing shape of gender and the built environment in the UK, case study from The Gender and Built Environment Database, available at www.gendersite.org (accessed 18 April 2012).

Caven, V. (2004) Constructing a career: women architects at work. Career Development International, 9(5), 518–31.

Caven, V. (2006) Career building: women and non-standard employment in architecture. Construction Management and Economics, 24(5), 457–64.

Caven, V. and Diop, M. (2011) Women and equality in architecture: an Anglo-French comparative study, in Egbu, C. and Lou, E.C.W. (eds) Proceedings 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, Bristol, UK, 5–7 September, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Reading, pp. 217–26.

Caven, V. and Raide´n, A. (2010) Work-life balance among architects, in Egbu, C. (ed.) Proceedings 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, Leeds, UK, 6–8 September, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Reading, pp. 533–42.

Caven, V., Navarro, E. and Diop, M. (2012) A crossnational study of accommodating and ‘usurpatory’ practices by women architects in the UK, Spain and France.

Architectural Theory Review, forthcoming(2/3).

Chinchilla, A.N. and Kraunsoe, V. (2012) Progressive law in Spain is not enough. 20First: Building Gender-balanced Businesses, available at http://bit.ly/RWAXNf (accessed 12 April 2012).

Chinchilla, A.N. and Leo´n, C. (2005) Female Ambition: How to Reconcile Work and Family, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Corvin, A.-M. (2012) Women in architecture survey results in full. Architects’ Journal, 235(1), 6–9.

Caven and Astor Dainty, A.R.J., Bagilhole, B. and Neale, R.H. (2000) A grounded theory of women’s career under-achievement in large UK construction companies. Construction Management and Economics, 18(2), 239–50.

Davenport, D. (2000) Comparer, c’est comprendre. Building Research & Information, 28(1), 76–8.

De Graft-Johnson, A., Manley, S. and Greed, C. (2003) Why Do Women Leave Architecture?, Royal Institute of British Architects/University of West of England Research Project Report, Royal Institute of British Architects, London.

Dovey, K. (2008) Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form, 2nd edn, Routledge, Abingdon.

Findley, L. (2005) Building Change: Architecture, Politics and Cultural Agency, Routledge, Abingdon.

Fowler, B. and Wilson, F. (2004) Women architects and their discontents. Sociology, 38(1), 101–19.

Garcı´a Rosales, C. (2009) Salvar Estrellas: La mujer construye 1995–2008, in Leboeiro, M.A. (ed.)

Arquitectas: un reto profesional. Jornadas Internacionales de arquitectura y urbanismo desde la perspectiva de las arquitectas, 11–13 December, Madrid, pp. 237–46.

Giminez-Nadal, J., Molina, J. and Ortega, R. (2012) Self-employed mothers and the work-family conflict.

Applied Economics, 44(17), 2133–47.

Gutie´rrez Mozo, M.E. and Pe´rez del Hoyo, R. (2012) Docencia y ge´nero: primeros pasos de la Universidad de Alicante (Espan˜a) en la carrera de Arquitectura. Arquitectura y Urbanismo, XXXIII(3), 52–69.

Hakim, C. (2008) Is gender equality legislation becoming counter-productive? Public Policy Research, 15, 133–6.

Le Maignan, A. and Sa´nchez de Madariaga, I. (2009) Profesio´n arquitecta: una bibliografı´a, in Leboeiro, M.A. (ed.) Arquitectas: un reto profesional. Conference Proceedings Jornadas Internacionales de arquitectura y urbanismo desde la perspectiva de las arquitectas, 11–13 December, Madrid, pp. 309–25.

Lupton, S. (2005) Architect’s Handbook of Practice Management, Royal Institute of British Architects, London.

Mirza & Nacey Research Ltd (2010) The Architecture Profession in Europe 2010, Architects’ Council of Europe, Brussels.

Molina, P. and Laquida´in, B. (2009) Arquitectura y ge´nero, Situacio´n y perspectiva de las mujeres arquitectas en el ejercicio profesional, Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a, Madrid.

Moreno, L. (2008) The Nordic path of Spain’s Mediterranean welfare. Center for European Studies Working Paper No. 163.

Murray, C. (2012) It’s time to take a serious look at women in practice. Architects’ Journal, 235(1), 18–9.

Pardo-del-Val, M. and Ribeiro-Soriano, D. (2007) Political support for women entrepreneurs: the EQUAL Community Initiative in Spain and Portugal. Equal Opportunities International, 26(8), 761–77.

Raide´n, A.B., Dainty, A.R.J. and Neale, R.H. (2006) Balancing employee needs, project requirements and organisational priorities in team deployment. Construction Management and Economics, 24(8), 883–95.

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Gender equality Rendell, J., Penner, B. and Borden, I. (2000) Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, Routledge, Abingdon.

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Royal Institute of British Architects (2012) Equal Opportunities Policy and Procedures, available at http://bit.ly/ 12gRVXP (accessed 3 April 2012).

Sa´nchez de Madariaga, I. (2009) El papel de las mujeres en la arquitectura y el urbanismo, de Matilde Ucelay a la primera generacio´n universitaria en paridad, in Leboeiro, M.A. (ed.) Arquitectas: un reto profesional. Jornadas Internacionales de arquitectura y urbanismo desde la perspectiva de las arquitectas, 11–13 December 2008, Madrid, pp. 69– 77.

Sa´nchez de Madariaga, I. (2010) Women in architecture: the Spanish case. Urban Research and Practice, 3(2), 203–18.

9 Sang, K.J.C., Dainty, A.R.J. and Ison, S.G. (2007) Gender: a risk factor for occupational stress in the architectural profession?. Construction Management and Economics, 25 (12), 1305–17.

Saraceno, C. (2011) Childcare needs and childcare policies: a multidimensional issue. Current Sociology, 59 (1), 78–96.

Saurel-Cubizolles, M.-J., Romito, P., Lelong, N., Escriba`Aguir, V., Pons, R.M. and Ancel, P.-Y. (1999) Returning to work after childbirth in France, Italy and Spain.

European Sociological Review, 15(2), 179–94.

Sindicato de Arquitectas (2011) 8 de Marzo: hoy y siempre Sindicato de Arquitectas, available at http://bit.ly/VLcyvt (accessed 18 April 2012).

Tobı´o, C. (2001) Working and mothering: women’s strategies in Spain. European Societies, 3(3), 339–71.

Walker, L. (1989) Women architects, in Attfield, J. and Kirkham, P. (eds) A View From the Interior: Feminism, Women and Design, The Woman’s Press, London, pp. 90–105.

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A Cross-National Study of Accommodating and “Usurpatory” Practices by Women Architects in the UK, Spain and France Valerie Caven , Elena Navarro-Astor & Marie Diop

To cite this article: Valerie Caven , Elena Navarro-Astor & Marie Diop (2012): A Cross-National Study of Accommodating and “Usurpatory” Practices by Women Architects in the UK, Spain and France, Architectural Theory Review, 17:2-3, 365-377 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2012.732588

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VALERIE CAVEN, ELENA NAVARROASTOR and MARIE DIOP A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY OF ACCOMMODATING AND ‘‘USURPATORY’’ PRACTICES BY WOMEN ARCHITECTS IN THE UK, SPAIN AND FRANCE The precarious position of women in architecture is well documented, but previous work has focused on single-country analyses, which, although valuable, do not allow the transfer of ideas or aid a deeper understanding of practice.

Drawing on data obtained from 66 in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews carried out with women architects in three European countries, the UK, Spain and France, we report on the ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies and instances of resigned accommodation of female architects practising in different political, social and economic systems. Our findings show stark differences in the experiences of the women in each country, with Spanish women identifying greater levels of overt discrimination, the French women enjoying greater levels of equality and the UK women adopting a broad range of ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies.

ISSN 1326-4826 print/ISSN 1755-0475 online ª 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2012.732588

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The precarious position of women in architecture has been well highlighted. Bridget Fowler and Fiona M. Wilson made an important contribution in 2004, when comparing and contrasting men and women’s experiences in the British architectural profession.1 Other scholars have examined why women leave the profession,2 women architects’ work experiences and concerns3 and the ‘‘feminisation’’ of the profession and the subsequent ‘‘depreciation’’ of its status.4 From this past research, we can ascertain that women architects are in a minority, that their experience is one of reduced employment security, which, in many cases, leads them to turn to self-employment in order to remain in the profession, and that they earn less than their male counterparts and occupy less secure positions in what is already a vulnerable profession characterised by periods of ‘‘boom and bust’’, depending on economic conditions. Fowler and Wilson identify ‘‘women’s resigned accommodation and their ‘usurpatory’ strategies’’ as being both a means of survival and an opportunity to challenge masculine domination of the profession.5 However, while they expect that there will be growth in the number of women entering the profession, in their opinion, ‘‘it is unlikely to be on the brink of rapid movement towards gender equality’’.6 With this in mind, and using Fowler and Wilson’s definition of ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies as the means of challenging ‘‘male monopolies, particularly from those [women] well-placed through their cultural capital’’,7 we analyse the careers of women architects in three European countries—the UK, France and Spain—to examine how different social, political and economic influences impact on the relative position of women. Following Fowler and Wilson, we also adopt the idea that masculine domination in the profession is a ‘‘naturalized

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social construction’’.8 Indeed, we argue that this results in part from the apathy of the wider architectural community when it comes to promoting the inclusion of women. Beginning with a discussion of the sociological origins of the profession in each of the three countries to provide a context for our research, we follow with an evaluation of the relative position of women in the workplace in those locations.

Our findings draw on data obtained from semistructured interviews with women architects from the three countries, and we argue that these women have adopted ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies to help them build a career in architecture while showing clear signs of resigned accommodation to the existing gender order. There is little to suggest that the situation may improve in the future.

Sociological Background to the Profession in the UK, France and Spain Architecture has very different sociological origins across the three countries. In the UK, the profession has arisen from both art and technical origins, although there were early attempts by the professional body to restrict entry by excluding those who had a technical background.9 In France, the profession developed from the arts and through patronage by the aristocracy prior to the Revolution,10 whereas in Spain, its origins are craft-based rather than arising from the arts.11 More recently, the profession has been significantly influenced by Spain’s return to democracy after 1977 and the liberalisation of planning laws, which have contributed to a significant growth in the number of architects there. Indeed Spain, despite having the lowest population of the three countries, has the highest number of registered architects—50,205, representing 0.106% of the population.12 In contrast, France

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has 29,400 and the UK has 29,667, which in both cases is in the region of 0.05 per cent of the population.13 Since it is usual in Spain to work in small practices, the structure of this market is one where micro companies dominate and most Spanish architects, even those of the younger generation, still construct their professional image around setting up a small practice with a few colleagues (many times including their own life partners).14 In France, working alone (as a libe´rale) or semi-independently (in an agence) is the norm.15 UK practices tend to operate with limited liability and clear contractual terms concerning the amount and duration of liability, thus reducing the financial risks.16 Women have entered the profession in different ways and times in the three countries.17 In the UK, there was a longstanding tradition of upper-class women designing social housing in a philanthropic capacity before entering the profession in a more formal sense. The 1891 census lists 19 female architects in England and Wales and a further five in Scotland, although they were not allowed to become members of the professional body until much later.18 Despite this relatively early entry to the profession (in contrast to France and Spain), numbers have increased slowly and there is still no critical mass of women in architecture in Britain. In France, the entry of women to the profession proceeded differently as, during the nineteenth century, women were allowed to study architecture, but were not allowed to graduate nor take up architectural employment on completion.19 The main entry of women into architecture followed education reforms in France in 1968, after which the numbers of women entering the profession rose much

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more rapidly.20 In Spain, the year, 1936, just before the start of the civil war, was when the first woman architect, Matilde Ucelay, graduated in Madrid.21 Together with many other republican architects, she was disqualified from practising as women’s presence in any professional field was limited during the Franco regime. Following the transition to democracy in 1977–78, the numbers of Spanish women in architecture rose more dramatically and, much more recently, women have come to form a critical mass of students—a very different situation to France and the UK. The late entry of women to the profession in Spain may account for the higher numbers as it has been identified that in countries ‘‘where the architectural population is young, a higher proportion are women’’,22 which is indeed the case in Spain where the majority of women architects are aged 25–35.23 Thus, the relatively early entry of women to the UK profession has not helped their professional progress; women are fairly recent entrants to the profession in France, on the other hand, yet they only comprise the same proportion as in the UK. The comparative figures of women architects in each of the three countries are as follows: UK, 19% of qualified architects and 38% of new entrants; France, 21% and 43%, respectively; and Spain, 29% and 57%, respectively.24 While women represent a much greater proportion of architects in Spain, there is clear evidence of vertical segregation with women being clustered in lower-grade jobs, with lower earnings and poorer promotional opportunities than their male counterparts,25 which is a similar situation to the UK.26 In France, by contrast, a greater number of women architects occupy public sector posts and thus enjoy comparatively higher salaries and greater employment security.27

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Spain was later in deregulating and relaxing its planning regulations than other European countries, but has now highly liberalised planning laws with a negative effect on the profession.28 The resultant building boom allowed a great number of women to enter the profession, but the highly regulated labour market there restricts women’s workplace involvement. Obstacles exist regarding exit and re-entry to employment as well as the forms of employment that are permitted.

In addition, ‘‘childcare services . . . are typically inadequate and characterized by extreme rigidity in the number of weekly hours available’’.29 Thus, many Spanish women are forced into self-employment,30 which has detrimental effects on their opportunities in terms of access to professional networks and their ability to be considered for projects.31 French women enjoy a better level of state-funded childcare32 and are able to return to full-time work relatively easily following a maternity break. UK women are well-supported by legislation relating to flexible and family-friendly working practices, although there is a much higher incidence of parttime employment following a career break for children.33 Overall, the structure of the profession is thus: women in the UK have been in the profession for much longer than their French and Spanish counterparts, but they represent a much lower proportion. Spanish women embody a more critical mass despite their relatively recent entry to architecture, but occupy much lower positions,34 while French women are present in similar numbers to the UK, although many are clustered in the public sector. This provides an interesting contextual background on which to base our analysis of the extent of resigned accommodation and adoption of various ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies by these women.

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Method While comparative studies are widely used in sociological research, they are rarely used in cross-national investigations.35 Drawing on the experiences of female architects in three different societal settings—those of the UK, Spain and France—provides us with an interesting methodological starting point.36 If we ‘‘treat social phenomena as components of systems, it follows that explanations of behaviour must be examined with references to factors intrinsic to the system in question’’,37 thus an examination of the architectural profession (the system) must acknowledge the different social, cultural and political systems in place. The practice of architecture involves the same functions irrespective of the national setting, namely the conception and design of buildings and the supervision of the construction process; thus, the ‘‘system’’ has the same basic tenets and our aim here is to examine the experiences of a career in architecture for women in different social, political and economic surroundings. For this reason, in-depth interviews were used as our research tool. All were recorded and transcribed.

A total of 66 female architects were recruited via the membership lists of the regulatory bodies (the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de la Comunidad Valenciana y de Castilla la Mancha and L’Ordre des Architectes in France) and were interviewed by a native speaker from each country. As this research forms part of a much larger project investigating the careers of architects in the three countries, we asked interview subjects to recall their career from the point of making the decision to become an architect, to their studies, gaining qualification and developments since, including both

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highlights and low points. It is from this data that we have carried out analysis on a thematic basis (drawing on a grounded in theory approach) to identify the issues faced by female architects.38 As we selected participants at random from membership lists held by the professional bodies, we used the date of registration as a basic indicator to attempt to achieve a sample across all age groups. The age range of the interviewees was 27–72 (UK), 30–58 (France) and 27–58 (Spain). The UK sample included two women who had retired (but who had retained their professional membership), one who was unemployed and another who was taking an extended career break. All the French women were working. The Spanish sample included three who were unemployed and one who was studying and had not yet qualified.

Their employment arrangements included selfand salaried employment, some public sector staff, and some principals (owner/managers) of practices. All three samples included a variety of contexts for the practice of architecture, from urban to rural, public- and private-sector projects, and a growing interest in conservation, particularly in France and the UK.

Gender, Space and Visibility One thing that was very apparent from the interviews was the subjects’ level of unawareness, prior to commencing study, of what the profession actually entailed at an operational level. It was clear that little or no research had been undertaken by the women to ascertain what was actually involved when deciding upon architecture as a career. The most commonly cited reasons among the UK and French women for becoming an architect were that it was something they had always wanted to do

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and that they had developed an interest in buildings and the construction process during childhood. The UK women, in particular, highlighted careers guidance at school as directing them towards more ‘‘female-oriented occupations’’, which had merely served to cement their determination to become an architect. ‘‘The school [was] absolutely no help at all about careers, physiotherapy was what they suggested’’ (UK). They told of their responses to answers to questions from teachers and careers advisors: ‘‘‘Are you sure? That’s a man’s job, why don’t you go into the caring professions? Why don’t you be a nurse or something like that?’ That was it then, that was what made me decide!’’

(France). For the Spanish participants, the factors influencing career choice were more related to the specific contents of the studies than the realities of work: they were good at drawing and sciences, and architecture offered them an interesting mixture of technique and humanities or art. Unlike some of their French and UK counterparts, none of the Spanish respondents had a family background in architecture that could have influenced their decision; even so, their choice of architecture as a career was heavily influenced by their parents.39 They cite having been pressured by their families in their career choice or that parents directed their interests. In fact, some would have preferred studying a different subject, but they were not allowed by their parents.

Others point out that, with their choice, they tried to make their parents happy: ‘‘For my family, financing my studies meant a real effort. So I couldn’t choose Fine Arts because they thought it didn’t have any future. I decided to study architecture as a form of respect towards them and I don’t regret it’’ (Spain).

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Unsurprisingly then, the women had little prior understanding of the masculine culture of the construction industry, which was also not made evident during their architectural training.

Women from all three countries noted that their studies did not prepare them well for actual site-based work. It is as if an assumption was made that they would simply operate as quasi-men. An interviewee who is a lecturer in a school of architecture cited poor communication between students and the (predominantly male) teaching staff as a reason for the high attrition rates prior to qualification: ‘‘[They] are terrified of students breaking down, they will not lead a conversation in a direction which will result in [that happening]’’ (France). As was also reported by Fowler and Wilson, we heard second-hand accounts of women refusing to go on site visits because of the behaviour of contractors and site workers.40 None of the UK or French women interviewed admitted to finding site visits difficult, although some of the Spanish women did, but we are aware that we are reporting the experiences of ‘‘survivors’’ here and that any who found site visits too difficult would no doubt have exited the profession.

Several of the women emphasised how they used their ‘‘otherness’’ as a strategy and highlighted their difference to achieve positive outcomes, with one saying, ‘‘Women have to realise that we have lots of different skills and we have to use different skills at different stages’’ (UK). Several mentioned that they believed women had better communication skills than men and that contractors appeared to be less afraid of asking them for explanations or advice regarding the designs and construction details. The majority of the UK and French women stated that they enjoyed good working relationships on site, although some of the Spanish women did report difficulties.

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Physical presence was also considered useful.

One taller interviewee commented that she felt her height was advantageous: ‘‘You just inevitably carry more authority’’ (UK). A French architect reported she felt she commanded greater respect as she became older and proved herself through her work.

It appears that many of the women enjoy their minority status and the resulting higher visibility, emphasising their femininity as a strategy. They appeared to enjoy the attention, with one saying, ‘‘[M]ost of ’em, to put it politely, want to take me out [laughs]—yeah, they do!’’ (UK).

One of the youngest respondents referred to how she was treated as ‘‘quite a novelty. . . [therefore] people are going to pay just that bit more attention’’ (UK) and emphasised that it was important to maximise the potential of this novelty for personal gain. She went on to say that on one occasion, during a site visit, ‘‘I was walking in an area where all the builders were sitting having their lunch and they were all just swearing and I passed and suddenly there was just dead silence and one of them said ‘there’s the architect’ and another said ‘it can’t be, it’s a woman!’ and I just looked and smiled and said ‘hi guys’ and just walked on, and I just thought it was a laugh!’’ (UK). Humour as a strategy for dealing with attention was mentioned by several women as demonstrating confidence and authority.

Where clothing was concerned, no one admitted to adapting their clothes for site visits other than to make sure the relevant safety precautions were taken. One UK architect specifically stated she had never worn a trouser suit because she believed ‘‘that is trying to be like them, you’ve got to be yourself . . . if I go up a ladder, I make sure I go last’’ (UK). Another mentioned that she only modified her clothes or shoes for practical

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reasons. Overwhelmingly, there was the belief that they should not try to be like men, that respect could be earned so ‘‘you don’t come across as an airhead’’ (France). Distance in the sense of not trying to be ‘‘one of the lads’’ was considered necessary to maintain respect and to clearly define roles, as the architect must approve the quality of workmanship, and ‘‘when you see some appalling brickwork you do have to tell them . . . you’re never one of them and there’s no point in pretending to be’’ (UK).

tural cooperative because ‘‘they were coming to you with the issue all the time, they were expecting you to have a view’’ (UK), which she found tedious. Others stated that they weren’t ‘‘one for burning your bra anyway’’ (UK) and the prevailing attitude was one of ‘‘getting on with the job’’, rather than adopting a feminist standpoint and promoting the cause of women in the profession.

While enjoying their visibility, the women were keen to stress that it was essential to demonstrate confidence both in themselves and in the work they have to do. A French architect who qualified in the UK and then specialised in bioclimatic buildings told of how when she returned to France, where such buildings are not well-known, ‘‘[t]hey looked at me like I was talking Chinese!’’ She has since developed a strong regional reputation and has designed several high-profile buildings, including one that has attracted a great deal of attention: ‘‘[P]eople in the area around, politicians, all want to come to see ‘the beast’ . . . so that’s nice, and then there’s l’Ordre des Architectes who want to publicise what I’ve done, because it’s the only project like that in [the region]’’ (France).

While we discussed earlier the use of humour as a strategy for establishing authority and respect, conversely, it can also be used as a defence mechanism and a response to a difficult situation. We were told of instances when ‘‘put down’’ remarks were used by male colleagues or contractors against women— these stories were usually accompanied by comments such as ‘‘You just need to know how to deal with it, but if you’re ‘oh my God, they’re being really rude to me’ and get upset about it, you won’t survive’’ (UK) and ‘‘If you get het up by [what] someone says . . . then that makes their problem into your problem’’ (France).

Some of the older women had experienced problems on site prior to the evolution of social and cultural changes preventing or reducing opportunities for contractors to make remarks (most UK sites now have restrictions preventing workmen from speaking to visitors or people passing by and penalties to enforce this). One interviewee explained, ‘‘I wouldn’t say it was harassment . . . but heckling, if they said to me things like ‘why aren’t you at home looking after the kids and doing the washing?’, I would say ‘the children are at school and I’ve got a washing machine’, so didn’t find it too much of a problem. I’ve only ever had problems with reps actually who were a bit patronising’’ (UK).

While we have here several examples of ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies adopted by women in response to the masculinity of the profession and the construction industry as a whole, there was no evidence of them trying to help or encourage other women. Some of the older women were effectively pioneers in the profession in all three countries, but, overwhelmingly, the responses from all the women were that they did not have a strong feminist agenda. One had left a women-only architec-

Proving Oneself, Exclusion and Invisibility

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This interviewee’s comments about finding the attitudes of sales representatives patronising accord with remarks from other women about their professional colleagues. The majority of incidents of harassment recounted to us were instigated by fellow professionals, usually male office colleagues or employers. We heard one particular employer’s name mentioned by several of the women who had worked for the practice at various times. Rather than taking a formal position and instigating a grievance procedure, the majority of women tolerated it until they found alternative employment as they did not want to be labelled a ‘‘trouble maker’’ and damage future employment or project prospects. (Only one told of taking formal proceedings against an employer for bullying.) Perhaps, surprisingly, women reported more incidents of harassment during employment in the public sector than in the private sector. One explanation could be greater awareness of what constitutes harassment and the existence of policies to deal with it.

Less obvious but equally exclusionary practices included not being invited to corporate events, such as golfing days, despite being able to play at an equal or higher level than many men and small talk before and after meetings focusing on football, explained by one as ‘‘it’s immediately a bonding thing, the way at the end of the site meetings, [they] always, always, always start talking about football’’ (UK). ‘‘Invisibility’’ can also result in exclusion, with several of the women telling of how they were ignored in meetings or finding it was assumed that they were providing secretarial support, for example, ‘‘It was all construction industry people, all men and they said ‘Right, let’s go round and everybody say who they are’, and they just pointed to the man next to me and I

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was the first person and they just obviously assumed that I was there taking notes!’’ A practice principal in her 50s took a male student architect to meetings with her and ‘‘the men round the table would direct their questions or answers to him or I’d ask the question and they’d direct the answers to him!’’

Exclusion was much more overt among the Spanish respondents, who narrate how employers and principals prefer to hire women architects to work inside the practice, drawing the projects and doing all the paperwork and bureaucracy, not for site supervision, on the supposed basis that women are ‘‘more responsible and organized, tidier, calmer, less ambitious and complain less, we create few problems and are harder workers’’ (Spain). The point here is that women are valued for complaining less, creating fewer problems and working harder, but these are not deemed to be ‘‘good’’ attributes for career advancement.

Thus, such women employees are prevented from developing the skills necessary for carrying out the construction supervision task; in some cases, these women reported they were not even allowed to talk to the clients.

Women Architects—Their ‘‘Contents’’ and ‘‘Discontents’’ We asked each of our respondents about the pressures and satisfactions of being an architect. While responses to ‘‘What are the good things about being an architect?’’ elicited similar responses from women in all three countries, when we asked about the pressures, we received very different responses. The satisfactions that accompany an architectural career are intrinsic in nature, arising from involvement in a creative career, and the women reported feeling a sense of satisfaction at seeing something built, with comments such as ‘‘Look, I’ve

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done this!’’ (Spain). Good working relationships with clients, colleagues and contractors were cited by a significant number and the feeling of being appreciated was mentioned as being enjoyable and rewarding. More altruistically, the interviewees spoke of feeling that they had made a contribution to society through their buildings. One architect who specialised in converting houses for people with disabilities spoke of how enabling someone to use their whole house, rather than just parts of it, was immensely rewarding. Many told of the satisfaction obtained from converting a client’s ‘‘dream’’ into reality and having a positive impact on people’s lives through, for example, designing social housing or public buildings.

The stresses of being an architect differed across the three countries. In the UK, the main stresses were: employment insecurity, with several interviewees having been made redundant at least once; poor salaries in relation to other professions requiring a similar period of study prior to qualification; and long working hours, one interviewee relating how ‘‘we’d worked for 18 days on the trot . . . before I collapsed’’. French architects told of the burden of having to carry a liability for ten years for all defects of materials and workmanship following completion of a project; they also spoke of the excessive bureaucratic impositions of policymakers. The Spanish architects agreed with the French, pointing out the pressures of excessive responsibility: ‘‘You try not to give in, [on those things that] may take you to jail.

Because that’s always at the back of your mind, as if it were the sword of Damocles’’ (Spain). Furthermore, they mentioned difficulties in dealing with local politicians and the power they possessed, narrating how, as architects, they felt like ‘‘hired pens’’, obliged to do whatever the politicians wanted, in

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return for their signature. They also felt their careers were restricted by men, that working in a macho society was very difficult and that there was clear evidence of vertical sex segregation and restriction of promotion prospects.

Discussion and Conclusions: ‘‘Dominance’’ or ‘‘Distinction’’?

In the period since Fowler and Wilson’s study was published, it appears that little has changed for women architects in terms of ‘‘making it’’ in the profession. Along with Fowler and Wilson, we do not doubt that women possess the cultural, social and human capital needed to succeed, but our analysis of the careers of women architects in three European countries does not allow us to state that the position of these women is localised or a rarity. Where writers have identified the need for a ‘‘critical mass’’ of women within the male-dominated construction industry professions, the case of the women in Spain, where a much greater number of architects are female, indicates there are other structural and cultural barriers that prevent true equality.41 Indeed, there is an interesting paradox here, whereby women are strongly encouraged by their families to pursue a career in architecture, but their career development is hindered by the organisations in which they work, indicating conflicting attitudes towards women in Spanish society.

Where some authors have argued that it is a lack of family-friendly working policies that prevent women’s advancement,42 the UK women in this study have shown that many stumbling blocks remain despite the existence of extensive legislation regarding flexible working patterns, work–life balance initiatives and

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numerous construction industry-based initiatives designed to attract women into the profession.43 The French interviewees were the most satisfied overall with their careers and, in contrast to the others, spoke of their professional body (the Conseil National de l’Ordre des Architectes, CNOA) as being supportive of their work. However, there is no ‘‘critical mass’’ in France either, with the number of women architects there scarcely greater than in the UK. The Spanish women present a different case entirely: while there are more of them in the profession, their opportunities are restricted and they report more negative experiences at the hands of their employers, colleagues and site workers.

Fowler and Wilson argue that the design of major public and ceremonial buildings is dominated by men and that this serves to exclude women.44 We go further and contend it is masculine dominance in the wider structures and bureaucracies framing the profession which inhibits women’s career development in architecture—clients responsible for commissioning designs, local authorities and other political bodies throwing up bureaucratic hurdles, for example. Such impediments also operate for men, but the obstacles are fundamentally gendered at the level of ‘‘taste’’, which ‘‘functions as a sort of social orientation, a sense of one’s place’’, and are thus perpetuated by both men and women, including the representatives of decision-making bodies.45 The Spanish women are also held back by paternalistic labour market policies46 in a context where there is little labour mobility across organisations.47 Women are clustered at low levels within organisations, but find it extremely difficult to improve their position by changing the organisation, despite finding it ‘‘relatively’’ easy

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to find their first post. Indeed, Spanish firms are eager to recruit young women, especially in male-dominated occupations.48 What in fact is happening is not the ‘‘feminisation’’ of architecture as a profession, where women can compete on equal terms with men, but the ‘‘feminisation’’ of low-level architectural tasks and a consequent perpetuation of gender divisions. It is apparent that the barriers in place against women’s advancement originate at a micro level and there is a need for the wider architectural community to both acknowledge them and overcome its reluctance to confront them.

Thus far, we have shown how exclusion exists as a result of ‘‘domination’’,49 but we have also identified ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies (linked to social ‘‘distinction’’50) adopted by the French and UK women in particular—they are highly visible as a minority and have improvised techniques to adapt this to their advantage.

By being themselves, we suggest that the women are more at ease with their professional role and abilities and are able to exert a sense of authority over men by challenging the gendered power norms, thus making the men feel uneasy in their own world. As we have stated earlier, we are aware that we have here ‘‘survivors’’, individuals who have remained in the profession and who may be inclined to attribute their ‘‘success’’ at maintaining a career in architecture to their gender or other personal qualities. What is lacking, however, is a willingness on the part of these women to promote the cause of other women—there is an apparent reluctance to challenge the status quo even by those who have successfully adopted ‘‘usurpatory’’ strategies to reinforce their own careers, and this is an area which would benefit from further research.

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Notes 1. Bridget Fowler and Fiona M. Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, Sociology, 38, no. 1, 2004, 101–119.

2. Annmarie Adams and Peta Tancred, Designing Women: Gender and the Architectural Profession, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000, 21–35; Ann de Graft-Johnson, Sandra Manley and Clara Greed, ‘‘Why do Women Leave Architecture?’’, Royal Institute of British Architects/University of West of England Research Project, London: RIBA, 2003, 1–55.

3. Katherine Sang, Andrew Dainty, and Stephen Ison, ‘‘Gender: A Risk Factor for Occupational Stress in the Architecture Profession?’’, Construction Management and Economics, 25, no. 12 (December 2007), 1305– 1317; Valerie Caven, ‘‘Career Building: Women and Non-standard Employment in Architecture’’, Construction Management and Economics, 24, no. 5 (2006), 457–464; Valerie Caven, ‘‘Choice, Diversity and ‘False Consciousness’ in Women’s Careers’’, International Journal of Training and Develpment, 10, no. 1 (2006), 41–52; Patricia Molina, y Begon˜a Laquida´in, ‘‘Arquitectura y Ge´nero: Situacio´n y Perspectiva de las Mujeres Arquitectas en el Ejercicio Profesional’’, Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a, 2009, http://www.cscae.com/ congresodearquitectos2009/ images/stories/ponencias/ pmolina_resumen_comuni

cacion.pdf (accessed 12 September 2012).

4. Olivier Chadoin, ‘‘La Fe´minisation de la Profession d’Architecte’’, Centre des Ressources du Re´seau de la Recherche Architecturale et Urbaine, 1998, http:// www.ramau.archi.fr/spip.php?article81 (accessed 23 October 2011); Nathalie Lapeyre, ‘‘Les Femmes Architectes: Entre Cre´ativite´ et Gestion de la Quotidiennete´’’, EMPAN, 1, no. 53 (2004), 48–55.

5. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 107.

6. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 103.

7. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 107.

8. Pierre Bourdieu, Masculine Domination, Cambridge: Polity, 2001, 3.

9. Barrington Kaye, The Development of the Architectural Profession in Britain, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1960, 32; Frank Salmon, ‘‘British Architects, Italian Fine Arts Academies and the Foundations of the RIBA, 1816–43’’, Architectural History, 39, (1996), 77–113: Salmon provides a comprehensive discussion of the role that the Italian academies played in the development of architectural education in the UK, leading to the formation of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

10. Franc¸oise Marquart and Christian de Montlibert, ‘‘Division du Travail et Concurrence en Architecture’’, Revue Franc¸aise de Sociologie, 11, no. 3 (1970), 368– 389.

11. Catherine Wilkinson, ‘‘The New Professionalism in the Renaissance’’, in Spiro Kostof (ed.), The Architect: Chapters in the History of the Profession, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2000, 124–160.

12. Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a email to authors sent on 16 November 2011.

13. The number of registered architects in France is as published by Conseil National de l’Ordre des Architectes (CNOA, the professional body representing French architects) for 2010, http://www.architectes.org (accessed 23 November 2011). Its counterpart in the UK is the Royal Institute of British Architects, which is the source for the number of registered architects there in 2010, www.architecture. org (accessed 23 November 2011).

14. See Luiz Ferna´ndez-Galiano, ‘‘Spanish Architecture: A Family Portrait’’, Journal of Architectural Education, 45, no. 4 (1992), 235–240; Emilio Luque, ‘‘Informe Arquitectos: Encuesta Sobre el Estado de la Profesio´n’’, Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a, 2007, http:// fundacion.arquia.es/media/

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encuestas/downloads/inform es/informe_encuesta_profe sionales_2007.pdf (accessed 13 September 2012); Emilio Luque, ‘‘Informe Sobre el Estado de la Profesio´n’’, Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de Espan˜a, October 2009, http:// fundacion.arquia.es/media/ encuestas/downloads/infor mes/informe_encuesta_pro fesionales_2009.pdf (accessed 13 September 2012).

15. Olivier Chadoin and The´re`se Evette, Statistiques de la Profession d’Architecte 1998–2007: Socio-de´mographie et Activite´s E ´ conomiques, Ministe`re de la Culture et de la Communication, Paris, 2010, http:// www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/ politique-culturelle/MCC_ Statistiques%20profession %20architecte_fev_2010. pdf (accessed 17 September 2012).

16. Sarah Lupton (ed.), Architect’s Handbook of Practice Management, 7th edn, London: RIBA Publications, 2001, 139–148.

17. Lynne Walker, ‘‘Women Architects’’, in Judy Attfield and Pat Kirkham (eds), A View from the Interior: Feminism, Women and Design, London: The Woman’s Press, 1989, 90–108.

18. Walker, ‘‘Women tects’’, 90–108.

Archi-

19. Valerie Caven and Marie Diop, ‘‘Architecture: A ‘Rewarding’ Career? An AngloFrench Comparative Study of Intrinsic Rewards in the Architecture Profession’’, Construction Manage-

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ment and Economics, 30, no. 7 (2012), 513–523.

20. Chadoin, ‘‘La Fe´minisation de la Profession d’Architecte’’.

21. Ine´s Sa´nchez de Madariaga, ‘‘El Papel de las Mujeres en la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo, de Matilde Ucelay a la Primera Generacio´n Universitaria en Paridad’’, in Marı´a A. Leboreiro Amaro (ed.), Arquitectas: Un Reto Profesional: Jornadas Internacionales de Arquitectura y Urbanismo desde la Perspectiva de las Arquitectas, Madrid: Instituto Juan de Herrera, December 2009, 69–77.

22. Mirza and Nacey Research Ltd, The Architectural Profession in Europe 2010, Research commissioned by the Architects’ Council of Europe, Brussels, 2010, 2; Spain did not contribute data for this report, but Mirza and Nacey base their suggestion on evidence from Eastern European countries.

23. Inez Sa´nchez de Madariaga, ‘‘Women in Architecture: The Spanish Case’’, Urban Research and Practice, 3, no.

2 (2010), 203–218.

24. Membership numbers are from each of the professional bodies governing the profession in the UK and France: Royal Institute of British Architects, www. architecture.org (accessed 3 December 2011), and Conseil Nationale de l’Ordre des Architectes, www.architectes.org (accessed 3 December 2011); Spanish figures taken from http://

www.sindicatoarquitectos. es/ (accessed 7 December 2011).

25. Patricia Molina, y Begon˜a Laquida´in, Arquitectura y Ge´nero, 31.

26. De Graft-Johnson, Manley and Greed, ‘‘Why do Women Leave Architecture?’’, 3.

27. Chadoin, ‘‘La Fe´minisation de la Profession d’Architecte’’, (accessed 23 October 2011).

28. Ine´s Sanchez de Madariaga, ‘‘Spatial Planning, In Fact Town Planning: From Regulation to Shared Visions’’, Special issue: ‘‘European Spatial Planning: A View from Spain’’, Quaderns de Polı´tica Econo`mica, Revista electro´nica, 2a e´poca, 6, (Enero-Abril 2004), 62– 79.

29. Jose Gimenez-Nadal, Jose Molina and Raquel Ortega, ‘‘Self-employed Mothers and Work–Family Conflict’’, Applied Economics, 44, no. 17 (2012), 2133–2147, http:// dae.unizar.es/jamolina/public aciones/Articulos/Gimenez_ Molina_Or tega%20AppEc %20Self_Employment.pdf (accessed 12 September 2012).

30. Gimenez-Nadal, Molina and Ortega, ‘ Self-employed Mothers and Work–Family Conflict’’, 2142.

31. Sanchez de Madariaga, ‘‘Women in Architecture’’, 217.

32. Nicky Le Feuvre, ‘‘Feminising Professions in Britain and France: How Countries Differ’’, in J. Scott, R.

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Crompton, and C. Lyonette (eds), Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010, 130.

33. Le Feuvre, ‘‘Feminising Professions in Britain and France’’, 131.

34. Molina and Laquida´in, Arquitectura y Ge´nero, 45.

35. Graham Winch and Elizabeth Campagnac, ‘‘The Organization of Building Projects: An Anglo-French Comparison’’, Construction Management and Economics, 13, no. 1 (January 1995), 3–14.

36. This paper reports data that has been collected as part of a much larger project examining the careers of both male and female architects in the UK, France and Spain; for papers drawing on the comparative study, see Caven and Diop, ‘‘Architecture: A ‘Rewarding’ Career?’’, 513–523; Valerie Caven and Marie Diop, ‘‘Women and Equality in Architecture: An Anglo-French Comparative Study’’, in C. Egbu (ed.), Proceedings of 27th Annual Conference of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Bristol, UK: University of the West of England, ARCOM, September 2011, 217–227.

37. Linda Hantrais, ‘‘Contextualisation in Cross-national Comparative Research’’, in Linda Hantrais and Steen Mangen (eds), Cross-national Research Methodology and Practice, Abingdon: Routledge, 2007, 3–18.

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38. We use the term, ‘‘grounded in theory’’, to highlight that while we are taking a basic ‘‘grounded theory’’ approach based on Strauss and Corbin (Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998, 57–71), we are aware of the many criticisms associated with this technique, such as the suspension of awareness of existing theory as suggested by Bulmer (Martin Bulmer, ‘‘Concepts in the Analysis of Qualitative Data’’, Sociological Review, 27, (July 1979), 651– 677). See Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, Business Research Methods, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, 577–584.

39. Elena Navarro-Astor and Valerie Caven, ‘‘Architects in Spain: A Profession under Risk’’, in S. Smith (ed.), Proceedings of 28th Annual Conference of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Edinburgh, ARCOM, September 2012, 577–587.

40. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 111.

41. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 117; Ruth Carter and Gill Kirkup, ‘ Women in Engineering: A Good Place To Be?’’, Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1990, 99.

Britain and France’’, 126– 151.

43. Caven and Diop, ‘‘Women and Equality in Architecture’’, 127–227.

44. Fowler and Wilson, ‘‘Women Architects and Their Discontents’’, 114–116.

45. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction, trans. Richard Nice, London: Routledge, 1984, 466.

46. Ruth Aguilera, ‘‘Corporate Governance and Labor Relations: Spain in the European Context’’, in Andrew Pendleton and Howard Gospel (eds), Corporate Governance and Labour Management: An International Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, 197–225.

47. Oscar Rodrı´guez Ruiz and Miguel Martı´nez Lucio, ‘‘The Study of HRM in Spain: The Americanization of Spanish Research and the Politics of Denial’’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21, no. 1 (2010), 129.

48. Rocio Albert, Lorenzo Escot and Jose Ferna´ndezCornejo, ‘‘A Field Experiment to Study Sex and Age Discrimination in the Madrid Labour Market’’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22, no. 2 (2011), 352–375.

49. Bourdieu, Distinction, 474–475.

50. Bourdieu, Distinction, 476–477.

42. For example, Le Feuvre, ‘‘Feminising Professions in

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