Over 120 leaders gathered to share their experience and knowledge in Kansas City, Oct 23-25, for a successful 2011 Women’s Leadership Summit, sponsored by the AIA. Major speakers included BWAF trustees and advisors Beverly Willis, Nancy Alexander, and Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief Metropolis Magazine. Willis spoke about the Glass Cliff. Alexander, together with Helene Dreiling, FAIA, Secretary of the AIA, engaged in a summit-closing conversation. Szenasy, who gave the keynote address, shares her assessment of the summit program in an interview with Wanda Bubriski in this month’s blog.
A group shot of the WLS conference attendees. See photo credits below.
Summary of Willis presentation on the Glass Cliff
Women have broken the glass ceiling, but there are only a handful of women in the executive suites of the large AE firms. From the pinnacle of power and influence at the top, there is a steep fall off to the next level at the bottom of the cliff that is the second rung of firm leadership. To many women in the firm, the lack of women in the C Suite suggests that women’s voices are not considered valuable. Studies have shown this simply isn’t true and firms with women in top leadership are more successful.
Wondering why this situation exists, Willis looked at a number of factors. While women comprise on average 50% of the architectural class at all universities, shockingly, only one out of four design professors are women. Until the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Women’s Leadership Council was formed in 2005, no woman professor had ever been recognized with a teaching award. Now women are receiving about 25-30% of all the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture awards and over half of the writing awards. While many juried individual design awards have recognized women, very, very few women have been recognized by the AIA. None have ever received a gold medal and only a European, Zaha Hadid, has received a Pritzker Award. Only one woman-owned firm, the Boston based Leers Weinzapfel Associates, has received a Firm Award. Clearly this lack of recognition contributes to viewing women’s accomplishments as less valuable. Does this need to change? YES.
Summary of conversation between Nancy Alexander and Helene Dreiling, FAIA about cultural change
Nancy Alexander, BWAF vice chair, and Helene Dreiling FAIA, Secretary of the AIA, engaged in a summit-closing conversation about the possibilities for cultural change in firms and in the profession as a whole. They built their remarks on three quotations: “Women are the real architects of society” (Harriet Beecher Stowe), “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” (Peter Drucker) and “Sometimes the strings just have to practice by themselves” (member of the Yale Black Alumni Association). Their conclusions: without full participation by a full spectrum of society, with all its different perspectives, the creation and re-creation of entire new cities in the coming decades will not be satisfactory; that the present culture of the architectural profession isn’t hospitable to the different vision and contributions of women, and that so-called “women’s issues” must be recognized as critical strategic and business imperatives – everyone’s issues; and that while initiatives that empower individual women are useful, change will not happen unless firms and the profession also take collective responsibility for changing culture. Among their specific recommendations: a commitment by the AIA to gathering more specific data not only to measure progress and deficiencies, but also because what a culture counts – and doesn’t count – sends a message about what it values.
For more information on the event, see the Conference website as well as the Speakers List and Summit Agenda.
Photo Credits: Heather Taylor
