FEEL AT HOME

Do you feel at home at the faculty of Architecture? Do you feel included and do you recognize a lot of your peers? Have you celebrated together with friends at the faculty pub? And do you know the best places to get some good coffee? The faculty of architecture creates its own family. There are always people you can join, always projects to inspire you and more activities than you can count. It brings people together. It’s a great place to work hard or to do nothing at all. For a lot of people it’s like a home. A place you can count on. Isn’t that amazing?

But looking at the history of the architectural world, there is sadly not much equality to be seen. Even on the basis of sex there are noticeable differences. The most famous names of architects are mostly the ones of men. This is not entirely strange coming from a history of women not having the same rights or support as men did.

Yet, the ratio of male/female architectural students is (almost) equal nowadays. More and more women choose to study architecture, which closes the gender gap. And never having felt more at home at the faculty of Architecture, it feels out of place that firms still hire men more easily than women, unless they really excel in their work. For example, even soliciting for a business tour, the companies hosting accepted only 20 percent women whom almost all already had completed their bachelor’s degree cum laude, while the men accepted could be first or second year students still. Even the surprised remarks given by teachers or a jury, even from women themselves, to a woman winning a contest are appalling. Hidden behind the innocence of a joke, everyone tends to disregard it as normal. But this is a perfect example of how the future of female architectural students is affected. Why should women have to perform better than required and still not get the same respect? The opportunities for women are unequal to men and so the stigma of the architectural world run by men stays.

Be that as it may, it brings hope that most male students feel the same way about this, which is a sign of progress in the slow path to women being equally represented in the architectural profession. The work ethics may differ, but we now know this varies per person and definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Studying and learning together at the faculty, we are indirectly being taught how to deal with those differences instead of dismissing them entirely. Every student has to perform the same tasks and excel on their own remarks. Even a negative comment by men towards women is already frowned upon. The next step is to speak up when inequality is being noticed. It is our own responsibility to create a future that is inclusive for all, where everyone has the same rights and is treated the same way. And if it’s already starting to be that way at the faculty, why stop there?

We should make architectural firms our home just like we did at our faculty. Improve their old views and create our own place to be proud of. //