Of what historic and contemporary concern is it that the architecture profession has been, and continues to be, strongly male dominated in Australia (currently 90% of registered architects in NSW are men). Ideally, what proportion of the profession should women occupy and why?
From the start of human history, we always experience certain level of inequality between sexes. It can be seen everywhere around the world and is a concern to everyone, both men and women. This inequality is an important issue within the workforce of many professions, such as being an architect, landscape architect, city planners and designers within the built environment.
Industrial revolution is the onset for women to become segregated from home, creating greater spatial division to impact on gender roles. There is common concept between the relationship of public and private space with male and female as described by Kate Lyons,
PUBLIC þ Male þ Economic and Political þ WORK
PRIVATE þ Female þ Reproduction and Domestic life þ HOME
This model represents the suburbanisation occurring in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Many suburban women are forced within their daily activities due to the constraints on accessibility and mobility in low-density suburbs and lead to a feeling of being isolated from the inner city. These constraints of this gender role affect the women's ability in the broader professions within the built environment, as they were restricted at home.
"... Architects do not like to employ women in their offices; contractors do not like to build from their plans; people with money to spend do not like to entrust its expenditure to a woman." This is probably due to the fact that women are kept at home without 'knowing much' of the 'outside world'; the design professions have intrigued women into marginal roles. Architects and other similar professional fields "have perceived women not as ...