Honoring International Women’s Day
March is Women’s History Month, a time to acknowledge and celebrate the feats and triumphs of women throughout history.
On International Women's Day, the month serves as a special reminder of the achievements and the vast journey and evolution of equitably serving and honoring women in society, including in the realms of architecture, engineering, construction, lab management, and lab design.
In an interview with Lab Design News, Stephanie L’Estrange, the interior design director & principal at Taylor Design in San Francisco, said that one of the greatest barriers she experiences in her field is gender disparity.
“The commercial field of architecture and design is still behind the times when it comes to gender equality,” L’Estrange said.
In 2021, an AIA-commissioned report from the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law called The Elephant in the (Well-Designed) Room, found that women account for 46 percent of those pursuing licensure, 36 percent of licensed professionals and 23 percent of principals in architecture. In addition, half of women professionals shared that family leaves disadvantaged their careers, but only a quarter of men reported the same.
An additional disparity is that fewer women and men architects of color report access to “desirable” projects compared to white male colleagues and, as such, reported experiencing less career satisfaction.
At Lab Design News, we aim to celebrate the rich complexities and accomplishments of women in this industry. Through articles authored by leading female experts to our Professional Profile series, we aim to acknowledge and amplify the journey of many female professionals and highlight the importance of representation in this industry.
To learn more about women in lab design, on May 22 at the Lab Design Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, there will be a featured Women in Lab Design Panel with professional experts Burcin Moehring, Lynne Cooper, Ardis Clinton, and Eva Baker.
During this discussion, the panelists will dive deeper into women in the lab design/build/renovation industry, covering unique challenges such as motherhood, menstrual leave, breaking into the industry, advancing to positions of leadership, and encouraging the next generation of women to get involved with lab design/build and renovation.
