Estimated reading time: 2 Min
International Women’s Day 2020
It is no secret that the architecture industry has a diversity problem. For generations, the industry was the domain of men. From the mid-20th century, however, this has slowly been changing. Women now make up nearly 50% of architecture graduates in Europe and the USA. There have now been a number of women-led practices that have won some of the most prestigious accolades that can be awarded to architects. In spite of these advances though, women are still vastly underrepresented in the industry. Although they make up half of all architecture graduates, less than a third of professional architects are women. Furthermore, less than a fifth of principal architects and CEOs in the industry are female.
RMJM has always been a proud promoter of diversity, and this is increasingly evident across our studios. 30% of our CEOs and Principals are women, and several RMJM studios boast employee populations of over 50% women. In 2019 RMJM’s Dubai studio was recognised as one of the Middle East’s Gender Diversity Champions of the Year, and when they started working on Sheremetyevo Airport in 2018, RMJM Serbia’s team was 80% female!
For the month of March, RMJM is launching the #StriveLikeAGirl campaign, where we look more closely at the barriers the women face when entering the architecture industry, as well as highlighting some of the fascinating women working at RMJM.
This years’ theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Each For Equal’, which is about encouraging us to look at our individual responsibilities towards gender equality. We know that we aren’t perfect and are hoping to use this month to look inwardly on how we can do better. One of the ways we are going to do this is by celebrating some of the women of RMJM to find out what it means to #StriveLikeAGirl! We will be talking to a CEO, a Director, a Lead Architect, an HR Coordinator, a Business Development Executive, the Head of Marketing, a Finance Manager, and a number of other women who keep RMJM as an industry leader. In their own words, they will talk us through the challenges and achievements in their careers as well as giving us a personal insight into the role that gender plays in the industry.
Stay tuned throughout March to meet the RMJM Women who #StriveLikeAGirl!
