When I was teaching architecture for the first and second year students for a few years I could not notice any difference in performance between male and female architecture students; there were weak, mediocre and excellent study projects, regardless of gender. Yet nearly all architectural competitions were won by men – and still are. It does not add up. Why do women not succeed in competitions?
Architectural competitions are an institution pushing the field forward. Success in competitions often leads to commissions and brings autonomy to develop and practice architecture; it is one of the few ways to make a breakthrough. Women are not winning architectural competitions – one of the reasons why women are in the margins and lack power.
The results of all open architectural competitions in Finland are presented in an appendix of the Finnish Architectural Review. I examined the male/female ratio of the authors in the award-winning teams in Finnish open architectural competitions organized in 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007. In 1967, in six out of eight open competitions all prizes and all purchases went for men.
The percentage of female students in Finnish architecture schools has grown over the years, now being nearly half of the students. In Finland studying architecture has been pretty much equally popular among genders for years. This however does not manifest itself in the results of the open architectural competitions. Actually, according to the sample, the percentage of succeeding women has dropped since the 80's. In 2007, there were approximately as few women succeeding in competitions as in 1977. The small amount of organized competitions in 2007 possibly reduces the share of women, as there is less room for newcomers.
In Finland all architects and architecture students can equally attend open, anonymous architecture competitions. Anonymity of the competitors guarantees that competition entries are evaluated by performance, not by gender. Shouldn't this be the very channel for architect women to emerge?
Let's set architecture aside for a while. In general, there seems to be substantial gender differences in competition preference. In a study (Niederle & Vesterlund 2007) participants solve a real task in a laboratory experiment, first under a non-competitive piece rate and then a competitive tournament incentive scheme. Although there are no gender differences in performance, men select to enter a tournament twice as much as women. It seems that men like to compete more. Men are also overconfident; they choose to compete even when they (based on their earlier performance) should not, whereas women shy away from competition regardless of how well they perform.
If women are less likely to compete, this not only reduces the number of women who enter tournaments, but also those who win tournaments. Because of the anonymity of open architectural competitions it is impossible to know the male/female ratio of the authors of competition entries, but based on the results of Niederle & Vesterlund's and other studies, it is likely that a vast majority of the entrants are men.
It seems that women do not win architecture competitions because they do not enter them. Why do women choose not to compete? Are women not passionate about architecture? Is it in the nature of women? It's hardly the case.
Competing is regarded as a typical masculine way of solving issues. However, studies show no evidence, for or against, that the predisposition to compete would actually be related to gender. (Hassi 1987) Traditionally, the desire to compete has not been considered a virtue for women. From childhood boys are encouraged to compete, girls are not. Women's competition preferences likely reflect the attitudes of the environment during their formative years. Men and women also estimate their abilities in different ways. Whereas boys and men tend to over-evaluate themselves and see failure as a result of bad luck or laziness, girls and women under-evaluate themselves and read failure as a sign of incompetence. (Hassi 1987)
Aforesaid is linked to a feature essential for a successful competitor: a good self-esteem. A competitor must believe in herself and the project, even after the inevitable defeats. Environmental influences explain the largest amount of variance in self-esteem in both genders, but especially in females. Good news is that self-esteem is not static; it can be enhanced with support.
The culture of competitions may generate architecture but it is clearly wasting the full potential of architect women. Architectural competitions are an institution so substantial, that if the architecture schools do not consider women's absence in competitions a problem, then the schools are not recognizing the dormant resource in female students.
At the moment the education system is obviously failing to spur architect women to take part in competitions. Women are usually underrepresented already in the student competitions – where architects learn to compete. If there is a true will to boost female architect's competing, a bit of gender-sensitivity probably would not be a bad idea.
It is important to emphasize the obvious advantages of the competitions' anonymity for women, since female students likely – and luckily - have not yet internalized the inconvenient truths about architect women not having the same opportunities to operate in the male-dominated building industry. It could be helpful to map the bottlenecks for women not to compete. Not finding a team? Not finding the time? Not believing in ones talent and abilities? The absence of female role models? Bad usability of the rendering program? Young architect women need mentors, encouragement and empowerment, but first and foremost, to find the joy of competing. As the one who finds competing against others unpleasant is unlikely to succeed.
Or; should we question the whole culture of competing? What if this time women were not the ones to change? It would be interesting to see what happens if competing is put aside and women are encouraged to find their own practices of exploring new architectures. The culture of architectural competitions was born when architects were mostly men. If it does not help women to generate ideas, there is a need for new means that do.
There has been less and less open architectural competitions in Finland in the recent years. It forces young architects – even those who enjoy competing – to consider other means to break through. Besides, is competing simply an outdated way to solve architectural challenges of today, such as global change or urbanization in the developing countries? The role of the architect, the design methods and routines are in change.
Freer from the burdening image of the heroic 20th century (male) architect, women could make conquests in design fields of tomorrow, such as wiki-planning and user-oriented design. Non-governmental organization Ukumbi, established by Finnish architects Saija Hollmen, Jenni Reuter and Helena Sandman, is a great example. Using architecture to mitigate poverty, Ukumbi's mission is to improve communities by offering participatory planning for underprivileged groups such as women in Africa.
In the past few decades we have seen a rise of women artists - vastly thanks to the feminist movement. Jenny Holzer, Rachel Whiteread, Annette Messager, Louise Bourgeois - women artists have become to define the movements of contemporary art. The same progress has not yet happened in architecture. The full potential of architect women is yet to be found.
References:
Architectural Competitions in Finland. vol. 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997, 2007.
Hassi, Satu: Käärme ja tiedon puu. Näisnäkökulmia tekniikkaan, WSOY 1987.
Niederle, Muriel & Vesterlund, Lise: Do Women Shy Away from Competition? Do Men Compete too Much? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 122(3), pages 1067-1101, 08., 2007.
Pdf: www.stanford.edu/~niederle/Niederle.Vesterlund.QJE.2007.pdf
About the author:
Virve Väisänen (b. 1979), Architect SAFA
M.Sc. (Archit.), University of Oulu 2005
Practices and teaches architecture in northern Finland; Oulu and Jyväskylä.
KONTAKT: virve@luonti.fi
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- Virve Väisänen, Essay
