In architecture there are no end of problems ‘the woke warriors’ feel they can combat – and one of them is all-male panels.
Recently I was taken to task for failing to include a woman on an awards panel – by a man I had invited to be a judge. His discomfort was not, I believe, because he cared passionately about gender balance but because he was worried about his reputation . As he said in one of our email exchanges, “I have sat on ‘manels’ before and it is an uncomfortable experience, which I don’t want to repeat.”
Most recently, BDP has been caught out for staging an event for International Women’s Day with only a single woman on the panel. No matter that the woman is Jude Kelly, founder of the Women in the World festival – the biggest festival in the world dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equality for women and girls – the practice was given a dressing down on Twitter by architecture’s equivalent of the Eyes.
I admit I was one of those who ‘liked’ a Tweet pointing out the irony of an almost all-male panel on International Women’s Day but pouncing on some hapless event organiser for not having a more gender diverse panel seems to be missing the point.
One of the consequences of ‘panel shaming’ is the debate shifts on to the gender make-up of the panel, not what people are saying. But finding women architects, indeed other built environment professionals, who are willing to speak on panels is hard. Since launching the Architect Pitch – and now the Developer Pitch – I have tried to have a balance of male/female judges and architects pitching.
Recently, as one of the creative directors of Guerrilla Tactics , I clearly remember raising the issue of gender balance at our first meeting – but was met with a degree of disinterest from some of the people around the table, including women.
We more or less managed it. But it wasn’t easy. One of the women speakers took weeks of persuading and almost backed out at the last minute, citing nerves. Another said she was stepping down in favour of her (male) partner. In the end they both spoke.
The Developer Pitch has been harder still. Out of seven pitching on Wednesday evening, only two are women and I do not expect this to change. The start-up economy continues to suffer from a stark and troubling gender divide but the reason is not lack of female entrepreneurs.
And at this time of year, attention will soon be on MIPIM where great strides are being made to have more women speakers in the mix.
Yet in 2020 the ‘London at MIPIM’ programme has still only managed 25% female speakers to 75% male, way under Manchester which has an impressive 40% women to 60% men during its three-day talks programme.
In any other industry, this gender imbalance would be met with derision – but let’s not forget it was only two years ago that the property sector was reeling from the fallout of the Presidents Club scandal.
And it was also two years ago Estates Gazette editor Sam McClary decided to tackle the lack of women on stage at property events after she became fed-up with inviting women speakers but not getting much response. So she asked them why not and the answer that came back was a lack of confidence.
As a result she spearheaded The Future Female Leaders programme, a four-month training course for 12 women from across real estate to learn how to be eloquent, engaging and powerful speakers.
Recently I met one of the women who has been on the course and she said it was life changing – giving her the confidence to not only speak in public but doing so even if they were the only woman on the panel.
Training courses such as these take time and resources. But gender parity won’t happen on its own nor via manifestos, or being named and shamed on Twitter. It needs a structured approach led by RIBA, among others.
As in property there is no shortage of women in architecture with powerful things to say on panels at industry events such as MIPIM. The question that Part W and others need to ask is why women’s voices are not being heard – and what needs to be done to give them the confidence to put themselves forward.
The Developer Pitch is on February 26th at the Building Society. The next Architect Pitch will be in April.
