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There has been much discussion raised about "Why are women leaving Architecture? and more broadly, Why is the profession losing key talent?"  Both women and men practitioners are disillusioned by the myth of work/life balance: Women are grappling with "have it all" expectations of juggling family time with the demands of full-time work.  Men are struggling to support their families solely on an architect's salary and fall back on asking spouses to maintain their jobs. The lack of affordable childcare and high cost of living only magnifies the challenges.  How did we end up in this modern family dilemma? What can we do to improve the situation?

Hey, Are We There Yet? (Research Update)

If you are like me and the rest of the TM32PP committee, we have all been anxiously awaiting the results of the Equity in Architecture Survey.  Similar to a long but exciting cross-country road trip, we have had to hold back the tendency to ask our Research Team the million dollar question one too many times:

"Hey, Are we there yet?"

Image Courtesy of Driversofchange.com

Image Courtesy of Driversofchange.com

 

Thanks to everyone for your support, interest and patience as we progress in the analysis of Equity in Architecture Survey results.  This study was truly a start-up effort with our research team from Mills College. We had a large learning curve with the time anticipated to "Clean" the data collected from the survey.  Nevertheless, the dedication and long hours of our team at Mills was palpable at our meeting in May, when they presented a sneak preview of survey demographics and some initial findings.

As we are learning from this research effort, surveys are complex and "eating the whale" has been tough chewing since the inception of the project last year.  The research effort has also relied greatly on the generosity of sponsorship from Architectural firms with offices in the Bay Area.  However, as the survey and study have unexpectedly gained national interest and a larger number of national survey respondents as well (over double what we had originally anticipated). The time it took to process and clean this data thus needed to extend as well.

In months to come, we will seek to continue sponsorship of the research project for future years as well as the upcoming Symposium in the fall with a National Sponsorship Campaign to build the endowment for Equity in Architecture Survey. We hope you will support us and spread the word.

To date, we would like to thank our Sponsoring Firms for their vote of confidence and generous financial support of this important and groundbreaking research study and upcoming Symposium: Equity by Design.  We are grateful for your partnership in this long journey towards Equity. 

So, the answer to the question is... Yes, we can see the path towards our destination and we are making our way there with some slight detours and delays. Thanks again and we will be providing updates in the months to come.

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Research Timeline Highlights:

June 11, 2014  -  Cleaned Data received from Mills College Research Team

June 25, 2014 - Summary Report of Survey Results and Key Findings

July and August - TM32PP Infographics & Research Team

  • Refinement / Graphic Development of Survey Findings
  • Equity in Architecture 2014 Research Findings in Booklet and PDF format
  • Symposium Coordination

September - Sneak Preview of Key Findings for TM32PP Firm Sponsorship

October 18, 2014 - Equity By Design Symposium at San Francisco Art Institute

  • Survey Result Launch.