RIBA Female Power Part 2

As I was saying...

The 5 panelists at Tuesday night's event -  Alison Brooks (Alison Brooks Architects), Deborah Saunt (DSDHA), Kathryn Firth (Chief of Design, Olympic Park Legacy Company),Liza Fior (muf architecture/ art) and Anna Gagliano (Aedas) - as well as Angela Brady herself, the RIBA President and Christine Murray, AJ Editor, were all fascinating to listen to.  It made me wish I had had more opportunities to hear the thoughts and ideas of women in the building industry before now. 

Each speaker was asked to address 3 questions:
1. What is the secret of her success?
2. What is her biggest achievement?
3. Where will women be in the architecture profession in 20 years time?

Although there was a reluctance to connect any female qualities to how they worked or why they were successful, I started scribbling "this is female power" beside my notes at things that struck a chord with me... here they are:

• inviting collaboration
• learning not to apologise
• sharing the credit for your success
• looking at the evolving social condition
• valuing the banal and the everyday life
• urbanism is not about making objects
• ability to jump between scales from the minute to the masterplan
• adapting
• being open and honest
• keeping your sense of humour

...and after all of that, perhaps the speaker I found most exciting was Anna Gagliano from Aedas.  She was the only one who dared to fully address the question of where women in architecture will be in 20 years time.  Her expertise is communication technology, what's working, what's coming next and how work practises are changing because of it.  The future for women, she said is mobile.  We will work where and when we want.  We will form networks of collaboration, communication and knowledge sharing.  We will form interdisciplinary groups to carry out projects, changing and re-forming to suit us and the work we do.  Does this sound familiar?  Does this sound like something Cambridge Women in Construction is doing? could do? will do?
 
We are already a force, a power, re-enforcing each other...we are the future

RIBA Female Power - Part 1

Yesterday I went to the RIBA's "Female Power in Architecture" event at Portland Place in London.  I wrote this on the train on my way home but I'll start with the last scribble from my notebook...

I'm a bit blurry from the glass of wine on an empty stomach, a bit distracted by the power of the heater blasting at my feet and a bit tired.  What do I think? I was inspired, fired up, relieved, excited until the Q & A session at the end was cut off after one question and we were ushered out of the hall.

"How wonderful to see so many women architects" murmured Angela Brady, RIBA President as she climbed the stairs in front of me.
"Well, we were just saying it's a shame we couldn't have more of a debate at the end," I said.
"You can talk to the panellists individually over wine," she countered and imperceptibly increased her speed, dissolving into the throng ahead.
Eve and I scanned the cluster of women at the top of the stairs for either the speakers or the wine but saw neither. In the end we managed to snatch a few minutes with Kathryn Firth of the Olympics Legacy Company and Liza Fior of muf architecture/art before they were whisked off for dinner.  I couldn't bring myself to linger at the edge of the dining room and try and stimulate the missing debate with my fellow lingerers whilst the panelists, president and AJ editor got to have their exclusive follow-up chat at the table a few feet away.  Dare I say it?  So RIBA.  It couldn't be this sort of attitude that is putting women off architecture, could it?

Grumble over.  Individually each woman was utterly inspiring.  Following on from the AJ's January woman-centric issue which aimed to highlight role models of successful women as well as expose the sad state of gender balance in the profession, inspiration turned out to be the main aim of the evening.  It really was a new experience to listen to a woman talk about her, very impressive, architecture.  I found myself identifying with their stories of 'being an outsider' of being 'bolshy'.  They spoke of careers as syncopation not a crescendo, of collaboration, joy in the small as well as the big, of working within society rather than making objects.  They were open and frank and unfailingly modest.  Christine Murray, the AJ Editor, started the (brief) discussion at the end of a presentations with a question about this modesty.  Was this a female trait? Could this have something to do with how few women reach the top of this profession?  The reply was to point out there were modest men too.  Hmm.

This, I think, is one of the problems for women in any male dominated profession.  We don't want to be seen to be different.  We don't want special favours or special acknowledgement.  When we do well we are not doing any better than our male colleagues who also do well.  Yet these women had been brought before us in the context of 'a year of debate about the role of women in architecture' because they are special- the statistics show it and we wanted to talk about it.  Second problem - no one wants to generalise, particularly not about anything that might be labelled as 'female' or 'male' types of behaviour or characteristics.  The trouble is, by immediately diverting the conversation away from their 'femaleness', these women became just as distant to me as 5 successful men. 

We will never know whether the discussion would have addressed what female power is in architecture.  I thought they each illustrated some brilliant examples and I will be brave and spell them out in Part 2 of this blog. Meanwhile I will leave you with my unasked and unanswered questions:

• Do the 60% of women architect students who don't become qualified architects just take the wrong subject at university?
• Does the fall in % really represent women leaving the architecture / building profession or is it about not becoming registered architects? If so - is that really a problem?
• Why do you think women leave?

So Close...

I have 13 positive replies for the networking workshop ... any more for any more?

SMART NETWORKING

One of the exciting things about the emerging group of Cambridge Women in Construction is the potential connections between us.  These may be future working relationships, shared professional interests, friendships or specialist contacts.

We are probably all aware how useful it is to network with others in our industry but actually doing it is another matter.  There is no getting away from the fact that women are in the minority at a construction event.  Some events are even geared around traditional male interests such as rugby.  How do you start a conversation?  How can you make sure you are making useful contacts and your card won't go straight in the bin?

How often do you come out wondering why you bothered?

picture by Richard-G reproduced under creative commons license

There has been a good response on the CWiC survey to both informal gatherings and networking events so I'm planning a second get-together for June.  In the meantime I have provisionally organised a Smart Networking Workshop so we can learn how to make the most of these and any other meet-ups we attend.

The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday 15th May, at 6.00pm to 8.00pm.

It will be in Cambridge and

places will cost £22.

I need at least 15 people to make it viable so could you please email me at cwic.contact@gmail.com to let me know whether you are interested?  There's more info on the workshop below...

The overall aim of the workshop is to provide tools to delegates which will enable them to attract more business. It is an important part of the marketing mix needed in order to be 'fishing' rather than 'hunting' and to concentrate on a client base by niching as a marketing strategy as well as know where to find them.

-Understanding how, why, when and where to tap into your business networks,

-Feel More confident face to face and using social media,

-Learn how to Smart Network by prioritising, niching and targetting,

-Learn how to confidently work the room,

-Develop a winning elevator pitch,

-Learn how to give compelling presentations and love doing them!

-Adding Social Media to Your networking mix: Twitter, Facebook business page, LinkedIn, Blogging

-Attract people to your business using a marketing mix

-Complementary E-book 'Understanding Social Media' is included on completion of attendance.

-Nadia Cenci is an experienced confidence and performance coach and will be using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) throughout her session on face to face networking as well as showing you how to prioritise your networking time.

Originally delivered through Business Link, with excellent feedback, Nadia continues to offer this to all businesses in the East Of England as well as in-house if companies prefer that option.

 This workshop has been designed for small to medium businesses to gain more customers and to enjoy effective networking.

Power Games

I just bought tickets to go to this FEMALE POWER IN ARCHITECTURE  talk at the RIBA in London on 24th April.  It's at 6.30pm so I'll probably get the16.45 train from Cambridge Station.  Drop me an email if you are going too and I'll meet you at the station.
(You don't have to be a member of the RIBA to book btw.)

Panelists include:

• Alison Brooks, Alison Brooks Architects
• Deborah Saunt, DSDHA
• Kathryn Firth, Chief of Design, Olympic Park Legacy Company
• Liza Fior, muf architecture/ art
• Anna Gagliano, Aedas.

This event is dedicated to Norma Merrick Sklarek, the first African American woman in America to become a licensed architect.

 

I find it interesting that they should choose the word "power" in the context of this talk.  It ties in with something they were writing about in ArchDaily yesterday on the decision to award Zaha Hadid with the Jane Drew Prize for women in architecture.  Vanessa Quirk questions whether such an "extraordinary exception" as Hadid, who has been able to achieve success on her own terms, and who approaches architecture as High Art, rather than a social force for good, is the best choice for this award.  She sees the award as seeking to challenge our perception of the state of women in architecture today in the spirit of Jane Drew and  I agree with her.  I only know Hadid by her reputation but that is a reputation of a gutsy, no nonsense woman who believes in herself and in getting her way.  A brief look at the comments section show the usual panic about pigeon-holing women characteristics and why shouldn't Hadid get a prize for what she's done which I think is just missing the point.  Hadid is a powerful woman.  Many of us aren't.  The question is: do we have to become 'powerful' to be recognised as good architects?  I don't think so, and neither, I think, does Vanessa Quirk.