Boy, Did I Get in Trouble!

Last month, I was interviewed by an alumnae publication about the challenges that women face in the engineering industry. In my remarks, I commented that women continue to struggle with demands of family, aging parents and the challenge to succeed in a profession that is still male dominated. Well, let the hate male roll! One of my followers commented that this line of thinking was "old", "outdated" and just plain wrong.

Here is what is wrong: I've spent 15 years in a profession that I truly love: design and construction. According to the British Architect's Journal that published the first Women in Architecture survey, though 40% of all architecture students are women, less than 16% of all registered architects in the United States are women. What's more, less than 1% are African American. Why? In several surveys over the last ten years, the cited issues remain unchanged: career paths seemed to slow after motherhood, lack of family flexible work environments, no work-life balance, poor career progression, etc.

Here is what is outdated: In an industry of creative and collaborative thinkers who can develop IPD and are driven by and through technologies such as BIM, REVIT and cell phones, we can't reverse the exodus of women and young professionals leaving design/construction firms because of the issues cited above.

While I "got in trouble" with a few followers, change can't come without discussion and disagreement. Where do you stand? Do you see the number of women in the profession declining? More importantly, what do you feel we can do as an industry to change the paradigm?

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.