Business leaders and firms are increasingly being called upon to drive equality in the workplace. Whether over the need for gender balance in senior roles, pay equity, or flexible working being embedded into an organisation’s culture; employees are seeing changes take place in wider society and want them reflected in their places of work.

Against this landscape of change, this International Women’s Day (8th March 2022) the women of Holmes Miller have established a working group to facilitate discussions about the state of play on industry equality and where opportunities for support can be explored.

Being a woman in architecture means lots of unique, and sometimes surprising, barriers. Yet, it would be wrong to think that all these barriers are neatly encountered at once and on day one your career aspirations and journey are set in stone. In fact, the opposite is true.     

Over the past 10 years, UK universities have seen significant growth in the number of female applicants for architecture and related degrees. In 2021, figures from UCAS showed that a record numbers of women accepted places on architectural courses in the UK (2,900 women vs 2,730 men) – marking a 30% rise in the number of women enrolling over the last decade.

With such strong representation in the classroom, it can come as a shock when this doesn’t translate in the workplace – as men make up 71% of registered architects in the UK and can be over represented in senior roles. This was a reality check for several members in the working group; some found the lack of female representation and visibility difficult to comprehend, with others seeing only a handful of female engineers and a single female site manager in their long careers.

To kick-start the change desired by the firm – and needed within the industry – the Holmes Miller Women’s Working Group have taken stock of their experiences from the boardroom to the building site to identify possible solutions.

One topic that arose was the role employers play in promoting the career aspirations of new mothers re-entering the workforce. This is particularly important when statistics show that among the under 30 cohort there is better gender representation, however this tails off when amongst senior representation.  

To achieve more equality, adequate personal support is needed to achieve a work-life balance, especially in the construction industry where the workload and hours can be very demanding. Every mother and baby are different and flexibility (both in terms of hours and handling) is integral when it comes to reintegration of new mothers back into the workforce, as some women may require more time to adjust with motherhood – both physically and emotionally. Returning to work after any absence (however long) can be daunting and helping with this transition into a new routine is an important step to ensure employees still feel valued and part of the team.

Employers can nurture an encouraging work environment with more progressive policies, where new mothers could feel more determined and would want to invest in their company. This would help retain and attract talent, reduce staff turnover for businesses thus boosting employee engagement and productivity. An inclusive and positive culture around motherhood should be promoted in the workplace as this would inspire the present and future generation of women to follow their footsteps and show that women who who love their job do not necessarily have to make a choice between career and motherhood.

Another theme that emerged was the challenges that arise from architecture being inseparably linked to the wider construction industry which long suffered from a lack of female representation. Being the only woman in the room is one barrier, but having to frequently prove your value to the wider industry can an exhausting exercise.

One such example summed this experience up well: a few years ago, when running a very large project and on the first site visit, one working group member decided to bring along a more junior (male) colleague. To their surprise, the contractor was not satisfied with the responses from the working group member – instead seeking validation from the less experienced male colleague. Unfortunately, this is a challenge that is still seen today with evidence of unconscious or unspoken barriers where the opinions of male architects are questioned less, irrespective of experience because of the embedded gender inequality in the construction industry.

Overall, the landscape for women in architecture is a mixed bag: while encouragingly we are seeing an increasing number of women enroll to study; once in practice, we see the chasm of the gender balance continue. Ultimately, there is a lot to work on.

However, if we are to take one positive thing away this International Women’s Day, it would be that at Holmes Miller we now have a channel and platform to keep the conversation moving forward and are very keen to do so. Only by sharing experiences can action be taken to address any barriers that exist in the sector to move towards achieving equal representation from the building site to the boardroom.

By Holmes Miller Women’s Working Group