‘On the Edge’: Is the Role of Women Changing in Architecture?

About

Speakers:
Thandi Loewenson 
Ann de Graft-Johnson
Sarah Wigglesworth
Rim Kalsoum

This debate, ''On the Edge': Is the Role of Women Changing in Architecture?', brings together practitioners and scholars of architectural design for a critical discussion on gender and architecture. The event accompanies 'Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London', an exhibition curated by the Courtauld MA Curating the Art Museum cohort in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Foundation. The discussion is organised by students from MA Curating the Art Museum in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum.

Inspired by Zaha Hadid’s statement that ‘As a woman in architecture you’re always an outsider. It’s OK, I like being on the edge’. The debate,  ''On the Edge': Is the Role of Women Changing in Architecture?', will explore the ways in which women architects challenge the male-dominated field, and interrogate the existing definition of architecture. The discussion will consider the potential for more inclusive ways of thinking about architecture.

Women architects often face marginalisation and exclusion in the male-dominated industry of Architecture. Statistical inequalities are constantly visible. The Office of National Statistics reported an 18% pay gap between male and female architects this year as part of a survey for International Women’s Day. The structural and institutional biases not only obstruct women architects’ career development but also deny the significance of their voices and practices. The marginalisation of women has fundamental impacts on the built space we occupy: ‘We live in the city of men. (Leslie Kern, Feminist City, 2019)’.

Free admission. Booking essential.