2017 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit

Nearly 400 women participated in the 2017 AIAWLS in Washington, D.C.

It was my great privilege to attend this year’s AIA Women’s Leadserhip Summit in Washington, D.C., in mid-September. The keynote speeches by Dina Griffin and Susan Colantuono were inspiring, as was the energy from attendees. Included among them was Beverly Willis, whose efforts at championing women in the building industry are unparalleled. Some observations from the event, which I wrote up forArchitectural Record, follow below:

Beverly Willis, an architect who founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation in 2002 with the goal of increasing recognition of women architects’ contributions to the field, also attended this year’s AIAWLS. Now 89, Willis estimates that she has been talking about the need to address inequity across the entire building industry for some 55 years. Asked if the discussion had changed in that time, she said, “Not really. And that is one of the things that really concerns me: That we’re just talking about the same old things over and over again. On the other hand, women have made great gains within firms, and the sophistication of the women in this organization shows—both in terms of the speakers, who’ve been phenomenal, and the attendees.”

An intensive day of leadership programming kicked off with a welcome address by Rosa Sheng—the founding chair of Equity by Design, president-elect of AIA San Francisco’s board of directors, and a senior associate with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Sheng emphasized importance of transparent discussion, citing the AIA’s adoption of Resolution 15-1, which formalizes principles of equitable practice. She also teased findings of the 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey, which will be released publicly before the end of the year. According to Sheng, survey results indicate that architects often compromise personal welfare for professional aspirations, and that there’s enormous disparity in salary by caregiver status.

2016 Equity in Architecture Key Findings Presentation – AIASF Equity by Design from Rosa T. Sheng on Vimeo.

Read the full story at Architectural Record.