Motherhood or Work?

Nayyara Hussain Fouad , February 17th, 2009

Examining the dilemma faced by women in architecture

Architecture has always been a male-dominated profession; the most prestigious projects, commissions and the highest awards rarely go to women.

The whole construction industry, including engineers, contractors, plumbers and carpenters, are primarily male-dominated fields. Women have been studying architecture in school for years, but those numbers are not reflected in the workforce. Seek out any architecture firm and you rarely find women holding top positions.

Unfortunately, the famous feminist mantra that says ‘you can do it all’, by successfully raising a family and having a successful career, rarely holds true for most women working in this field in the region.
 
In fact, a large majority of women working in this profession suddenly find themselves faced with a predicament around their mid-30s - retain the high-end career and lofty dreams or take a break to raise a family?

Put simply, commitments at home stand in the way of career advancement. Inflexible and unfriendly working hours, low pay, unpaid maternity leave and what seems to be an industry-wide lack of empathy towards family life are some of the prime reasons women opt out of the architecture field. A major problem facing working women in the Middle East is what can be described as a complete lack of social support in childcare and family wellness.

On-site, professionally-run day care centres, in which mothers can feel confident about leaving young children, are completely nonexistent. Likewise, schools let out between 2-3pm and most offices don’t allow mothers flexible working arrangements.

Generally speaking, working hours in the architecture world are unfriendly; they’re divided into two shifts: one in the morning and the other in the evening. Women are rarely allowed to work part-time, which makes it impossible to coordinate their schedules with those of their children.

As a comparison, in India, families generally have a very strong network of family support that are happy and willing to help with childcare. Moreover, it is far easier to arrange for reliable domestic help.



Sadly, these factors are missing in the UAE as women find it increasingly difficult to manage childcare. With no one at home to supervise, many women are simply afraid to leave toddlers alone with a nanny.

When applying for jobs, the question that seems most important is not one of salary expectations or work experience but when the female candidate plans to have her next child or how the female candidate plans to juggle her career and her family.

The entire interview gets dominated by personal questions as the interviewer tries to grill his way through the private life of the applicant. Too many potential employers fail to appreciate the desire of most women to create some sort of balance between family life and work.

All too often, eyebrows are raised and eyes are rolled with disgust at a woman’s reluctance to work inflexible hours.

Comparisons are made with the male counterparts, citing the long hours they put in at the office. What many individuals don’t recognise is that most men are not loaded with the extra responsibilities of managing the children and running a household.
 
Handling a full-time job and a household requires an extra commitment and a significant amount of extra effort, and while some women may still be willing to go the extra mile, the aforementioned circumstances make it almost impossible for them to succeed.

A number of women who do take a break from their career to raise a family are then forced to question whether they can re-enter the workforce in a meaningful role again.

Even a minor break in one’s career leads to an erosion of confidence in women as several opportunities to develop personal skills and capabilities have long since past.

For beginners, they often start at a lower salary anyway, and time off from work further detracts from their work experience. Moreover, changes in the industry—especially in terms of CAD technology—make it  imperative for female architects to refresh their knowledge on a continuous basis.

While some architecture firms are willing to invest the time to enable employees to enhance their skills, a lot of them think twice before investing in workers who may leave in the face of family commitments or a sudden pregnancy.

Resulting from what is effectively the ‘de-mothering’ of the architecture industry, a growing number of women feel disillusioned that their role as mothers has had a negative impact on their once promising careers.

Opportunities for further growth also become limited once women return to work as they encounter a lack of opportunities to design major projects.

It is quite ironic that women often do well in the academic stages of their careers but that this success very rarely translates into practice.

Of course, there are exceptions—Zaha Hadid, Marion Mahony Griffin and Denise Scott Brown are a few high-profile examples—but often a very short break in career leads to the general perception that the woman is neither a serious architect nor a deserving contender for promotion.

When a woman opts out of her career to take care of her family, it may simply reflect a personal choice to make her job secondary in her life. But, some women can effectively juggle a high-profile career with a home and children, but in the current market, very few opportunities for them exist.

If a woman is unable to resume working after having children, it doesn’t mean just a personal loss in terms of a career placement or financial gain, it also means five to seven years of academic study down the drain as well as a loss of expertise and a failure to properly realise her potential.

In today’s world, work environments have advanced to the point where architecture practices should be flexible enough to allow women architects to work fewer hours.

Technology has advanced to the point where a major chunk of the CAD work can be handled at home. Allowing women to work fewer hours or during times that coincide with schools could go a long way in luring back women architects.



Increased support from society in terms of more stable and supportive childcare and school would also go a long way in retaining those talented professionals who sacrificed their careers for their families.

What is needed is an overall change in attitude towards working; people’s social and mental lives need to be seen as equally important to their career development.

Like many professions, family issues are the number one problem facing women in architecture. Every mother is compelled to take time off during illnesses, crucial exams, school functions or just generally be available to her family.

Employers need to understand this and work with their female employees to create working hours that make sense for everyone involved.

The beginning of a child’s life should not signal the end of a woman’s professional life. Options allowing women to continue developing their careers at home by learning new skills and keeping up to date with the latest technological and professional advancements do exist.

But only when architecture firms in the Middle East become more willing to allow flexible work schedules with decent pay, will more women return to work after a maternity break. The industry need not lose talented professionals by adopting a rigid stance. It’s time the industry awoke from its giant slumber.