HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN, AND IF, WOMEN HAVE [RE]BUILT ARCHITECTURE? Franca Trubiano The question of how it is that we will know when women have truly succeeded in transforming architecture, and its allied practices of design and construction, is both a simple question and one near impossible to answer. How will we know if women who participate in the art, craft, discipline, theory, and business of architecture—as students, educators, amateurs, professionals, critics, or clients—have achieved the level of parity, transformation, and revolution they desire? What evidence will we use to identify, measure, or evaluate appreciable gains, improvements, and added value in the status of women in architecture? More critically, is our concern with parity and representational fairness an appropriate goal? Undoubtedly, the number of women who study, work, and teach in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and industrial design continues to increase with every year. In architecture, for example, many universities boast near gender parity amongst their student population. According to published data by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), in 2014 an equal number of women and men were attending and graduating from accredited schools of architecture.1 Moreover, the same percentage of women (forty percent) reported registering for the professional licensing exam, that is the Architectural Registration Exam.2 In general, there is much to be optimistic given these changing demographics. Moreover, examples abound of increased efforts to facilitate the introduction and acclimation of women to the profession. In the United States, for example, the American Institute of Architects—a voluntary professional organization that oversees to the architect’s continuing education and her involvement in a wide range of public policy issues associated with the built environment—hosts a number of initiatives specifically tailored to women. In 2015, the Women’s Leadership Summit registered 300 participants who gathered to discuss persistent professional challenges and barriers faced by women in practice.3 The summit succeeded in publishing the “Diversity in the Profession of Architecture” report, which gathered data and observations made by more than 7,500 architects. Job satisfaction, reasons for leaving the profession, methods for attracting women and underrepresented minorities, and factors which make architecture less than attractive as
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