Building Design, the newspaper for architects, has launched a campaign to increase the number of women entering the industry.
The
50/50 Campaign for More Women in Architecture is encouraging
architecture practices to sign up to a charter promising to adopt more
female-friendly policies.
Staff at CMPi-owned Building Design
have pinpointed the worst offending companies, many of whom are among
the largest design firms in the UK.
Robert Booth, editor of the
title, said: “Women are dropping out of architecture because of a
macho, long hours culture, sexism in the workplace and backward
thinking on maternity leave and retraining.
“The government is
ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds into building so-called
‘sustainable communities’, but how sustainable can these really be if
only one in eight of the people designing these homes of the future are
women?” Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt, architect Lord
Richard Rogers and Equal Opportunities Commission chairwoman Julie
Mellor are backing the campaign.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog