In this video. Cathleen McGuigan, editor-in-chief of Architectural Record, discusses gender within the professional setting, specifically within the world of architecture at the Harvard GSD. As she begins, she addresses the question that most people have when such a topic is approached. "Why are we still talking about this?" McGuigan lays out the position of women in architecture and the rational that still supports inequality, however subconscious, within the profession. Referencing Sheryl Sandberg's new book Lean In, McGuigan shows how this topic is still unresolved and still needs to be discussed in the public forum.
McGuigan points out various statistics at the GSD indicating how women's and men's roles are approaching equal. Over the past twenty years, for example, the number of tenured women at the Harvard GSD rose from 0 to 7, a woman was appointed President of the school, and attendance of women rose from 30% to 49%. But compare this to the statistics of the working professional and you will understand why this conversation is still relevant: 17% of principles at an architecture firm are women, 23% of architects in the US are women, and architecture has the highest rate of women opting out of the occupation in the 35-40 year old age bracket.
Watch the video to hear what McGuigan says about these statistics.
