Women architects and their discontents

Fowler, B. and Wilson, F. (2004) Women architects and their discontents. Sociology, 38(1), pp. 101-119. (doi: 10.1177/0038038504039363)

Abstract

The article critically investigates recent assumptions that professional women are en route to equality with professional men by assessing the field of architecture as a case study. It addresses the poorer completion rates for women architectural students, together with the lower proportions of professionally registered & promoted women architects. The article explores, in particular, Bourdieu's theories of gender divisions & higher professions as an explanatory grid for understanding these phenomena, deploying especially two late works, Masculine Domination (2001) & The State Nobility (1996). It is argued that the extended Bourdieusian theory of practice illuminates the interview data gathered from women architects, especially through its emphasis on a disposition to naturalize domination. While Bourdieu's position is not without weaknesses, this theory sheds light on the difficulties women practitioners are found to face empirically, especially in combining architecture & parenting.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Architects, Occupational Segregation, Professional Women, Sexual Inequality, Social Reproduction, Bourdieu, Pierre, Scotland
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wilson, Professor Fiona and Fowler, Professor Bridget
• Authors: Fowler, B., and Wilson, F.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences; College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Sociology
• ISSN: 0038-0385
• ISSN (Online): 1469-8684