Where Are Women Architects? A Reflection on the Situation in Switzerland
In 2016, architectural historian Despina Stratigakos published Where Are Women Architects? Through five chapters, the book explores, among other topics, the invisibilization of women in architectural history, inequality in professional offices, and their representation in architectural awards. Stratigakos reflects on how male-dominated norms have shaped the profession and challenges us to question whether women should truly aspire to the same working conditions as their male colleagues.
Although focused on North America, her work strongly resonates with the situation in Switzerland. Here, while women represent around 50% of architecture students, their presence drops dramatically in the profession. A 2004 study by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) found that only 10% of women were still working as architects ten years after graduating. A decade later, progress remained minimal. Today, the SIA website states:
« Women start out in architecture in greater numbers (54% at ETH Zurich in 2015), but only a third complete their master’s degree, and their proportion decreases even further during the first ten years of their career. »
This underrepresentation is also evident in academia and professional awards. In 2015, the EPFL architecture faculty had only four female professors out of 28 positions.
Why do so few women remain in the field? Olivia de Oliveira, speaking at the Women in Architecture Seminar organized by Frau SIA, highlighted the difficulty of balancing professional and personal life due to the lack of part-time positions as one of the major barriers for female architects in Switzerland. However, parenthood is not the only obstacle. In 2014, only 3.8% of female architects reported leaving their jobs for family reasons. As Diana Griffiths pointed out:
« If family commitments were the only obstacle to success, then childless female architects should thrive. »
Obstacles for women architects persist, and discrimination begins as early as university. A 2014 survey by The Architects' Journal found that over 50% of female architecture students had experienced gender discrimination during their studies. Moreover, the lack of female role models—whether in teaching, guest lectures, or project critiques—reinforces a sense of exclusion.
In professional practice, Where Are Women Architects? highlights several challenges: women are often assigned less prestigious roles, receive fewer large-scale commissions, and, despite equal experience, tend to earn less than their male counterparts. And when women do succeed, their gender is often seen as an inseparable part of their achievement—they succeed despite being women. A striking example of this discrimination is the treatment of Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in 2004. Instead of focusing on her work, the media emphasized her supposedly "difficult" personality, labeling her a "diva." This kind of rhetoric is rarely applied to men. Since Hadid, only Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara (Grafton Architects) have received the prize as a duo, illustrating the slow pace of progress in recognizing women in architecture.
In response to these disparities, several initiatives have emerged. In 2004, Zurich-based architect Maya Karácsony launched Frau am Baum, an SIA program aimed at supporting female architects and engineers in Switzerland.
This book, though concise, is essential reading for anyone interested in the profession, as it sheds light on the deeply ingrained discrimination women face from education to professional practice. By questioning the structures that perpetuate these inequalities, Where Are Women Architects? fosters a necessary discussion on the future of the field. To explore this issue further, following the conferences and initiatives of the Réseau Femme et SIA—which promotes greater equity in Swiss architecture—is highly recommended.
Réseau Femme et SIA
https://femme.sia.ch/aktuell
Purchase the book (in Switzerland):
https://www.orellfuessli.ch/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1037689799
This text was translated with the help of AI
