Women are pursuing careers in architecture at greater rates than in previous years, but female practitioners still face an uphill battle in their efforts to find equal representation in the profession, according to the 2000–2002 AIA Firm Survey.

Expanded diversity is particularly apparent in recent startups, in which advancement opportunities may be greater because of the businesses' management structure. More than one in five firms were founded since 1994, and the leadership of these firms is different from firms with longer pedigrees, the Firm Survey suggests. Nearly one in five principals and partners at these firms are women, and almost one in 10 are racial or ethnic minorities.

The average size of a women-owned business (an independently owned and operated business that is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by women) is about five people. According to the survey, women-owned businesses have seen growth in firms of all size categories except sole practitioners, which dropped from 52 percent in 1996 to 35 percent in 1999. The largest growth was at 2-to-4-person firms, which jumped from 27 percent in 1996 to 36 percent in 1999. Significantly, the survey reports, the share of larger women-owned businesses (20 or more employees) doubled from 2 percent in 1995 to 4 percent in 1999.

Other statistics herald positive advances for women in the profession. The number of women licensed architects at firms increased to 13 percent, up from 9 percent in 1996. By contrast, racial/ethnic minorities make up a smaller percentage of the profession than women do: only 8 percent of the overall architecture staff, 8 percent of the licensed architects, and 15 percent of the interns. In addition, the percentage of women students in architecture programs has increased from 29 percent in 1987–1988 to 35 percent in 1997–1998, and the figures are higher for those seeking MArch degrees, rising from 36 percent to 42 percent for that same period, according to the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) and reported in the survey.

However, in her recently published book, Designing for Diversity, researcher Kathryn Anthony writes, "although these figures represent a substantial increase over earlier ones, the number of students far exceeds the number of those individuals who actually make it into the profession. Also, according to Anthony, "16 percent of full-time architecture faculty in American colleges and universities are women; just 10 percent are persons of color."

Historical perspective
In the late 1960s, more than 100 years after the AIA's inception, women and minority membership in the AIA counted for only a handful of participants. During this time, Whitney Young Jr., then executive director of the Urban League, spoke at the AIA national convention and challenged the profession to increase participation by minorities and women in the profession. Heeding that call in the ensuing years, the AIA has implemented and refined outreach programs to underrepresented groups. In 1972, for example, the AIA established the Whitney Young Jr. Award, a national honor that recognizes individual architects and architecture organizations that demonstrate commitment toward expanding the profession. In 1992, then-AIA President Cecil Steward, FAIA, convened a Task Force on Diversity to review and evaluate Institute policies and procedures and recommend changes that more fully reflect the profession's multiculturalism. Today, although still at 9 percent of total membership, women constitute the most rapidly growing segment of AIA membership for the last decade.

Next steps
Other discouraging trends are discussed in Kathryn Anthony's recently published book, Designing for Diversity. (Read the book review.) Anthony describes the way in which hostile work environments can foster turnover, worker alienation, racism and discrimination, burnout, and unnecessary termination. However, she also describes ways individuals and firms can overcome the challenges facing women and other underrepresented groups. Anthony says these possibilities include:
• Mentoring
• Finding the right firm
• Networking with other professionals
• "Sensitizing" the architectural workplace
• Creating a more flexible work environment
• Proactively avoiding discrimination charges
• Public outreach.

Anthony calls on the AIA to "offer its members mechanisms for accountability in promoting, achieving, and managing diversity. . . . Otherwise, architecture firms will continue to merely pay lip service to these issues or ignore them completely."

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.