Women in Architecture Symposium 08 March 2021

MCA celebrated International Women’s Day with an online lunchtime symposium for the women working in the practice, sharing their personal experiences and insights into the world of architecture.

Our team have varied backgrounds and cited a range of reasons for choosing it as a career. These included family traditions, school counsellor’s advice or being influenced by sibling’s choices. Naturally, a lot demonstrated a flair for art and mathematics at secondary level before pursuing either architectural courses at third level.

The eclectic mix of project experience was impressive; our female colleagues have worked internationally on many building typologies of varying scales, including large scale hotels, commercial skyscrapers, airports, hospitals and residential developments, to name a few.

On the topic of work life balance and career progression there was a lot of discussion around balancing childcare commitments during COVID lockdown; women in leadership roles; and a decrease in the numbers of older female architects in the industry. Interestingly, family commitments were considered the probable and main reason behind this trend.

There was also positive feedback about the prominence of women in the MCA’s workforce and the practice continues to develop its reputation for equality, diversity and inclusivity.