Women’s International Month - Architecture
It's always been extraordinary to recognize human beings for their hard work. And in the past few years, it has been amazing to begin seeing women's recognition worldwide, especially in design. When you think about it, recognition within architecture or construction has been minimal even to this day. And it should not just be recognized once a year during International Women's Month, but it should be recognized daily. It is not just a feminist or activist outlook to give this outpour of praise, although this is how this began.
Britannica Junior observes:
"International Women's Day was first conceived at the Second International Socialist Women's Conference in 1910. Its leaders, notably German activist Clara Zetkin, wanted to mobilize working women in a setting apart from the mainstream feminist movement, which they felt overlooked working women in favour of the bourgeois. There was not yet a fixed date for the observance, though. In 1921 Zetkin proposed the March 8 date in honour of a workers’ strike in Petrograd on that day in 1917, which marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution.”
The concept of a day or a month to celebrate women workers originated in 1910, but it took a handful of years to pick up momentum. In 1957 Europe and France began to accept this holiday after the tensions of the Cold War. By the 1970s, American feminist groups began to celebrate International Women's Day and create an annual movement, and on March 8, 1980, it became designated National Women's History Week.
If you think about it, women throughout history have been recognized, just not on an astronomical level, as men, so we want to highlight seven women that have paved the way for women in design.
1st Building Constructed with a female Architect Lead: 1670 – 1680
Plautilla Bricci attained recognition as an Architect lead on her work for the Villa Benedetti, Elpidio Benedetti's residence outside of Rome, and the Chapel of San Luigi.
1st Woman to own an architecture firm: 1881
Louise Blanchard Bethune opened her own practice in 1881 in Buffalo, New York. It is now known as Bethune & Bethune.
1st Woman accepted into an architecture program: 1878
Mary Louisa Page became the first woman to be taken into an architecture program and attend architecture school.
1st Women Licensed in the US/Illinois: 1898
Marion Mahony Griffin became the first woman licensed Architect in the United States. She spent most of her early career working for Frank Lloyd Wright, and in 1898 she took and passed the Illinois State licensure exam for architects.
1st Nominated Award for a female Architect
1st Women's Building at the World Columbian Exposition Design Competition: 1893
Sophia Hayden, at the age of 21, won her first building design competition and $1,000.
1st Honorary Ward of the Association of Polish Architects (SARP): 1974
Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak became the first woman to earn the most prestigious architectural award in Poland; she advanced architecture in the 2nd half of the 20th century by rebuilding postwar Wroclaw.
1st Pritzker Architecture Prize: 2004
Zaha Hadid received the Pritzker Architecture Prize breaking barriers as the first woman to earn this award for her design at the Richard and Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio.
We will continue to push the boundaries regarding hard work and recognition within society and design. We proudly announce that our current SMS staff is over 60% female. This is a fantastic thing to run across, especially in a male-dominated field. The women in our office have paved their pathway to becoming crucial assets in architecture and design, and we can't wait to see what other barriers they continue to break.