Women Architects - Recent Statistics

Recent Statistics

It is not easy to find reliable statistics on women's place in architecture across the world. Much of the information is dated and some is based on surveys inviting responses but with no guarantee of comprehensive coverage. Some of the more interesting data are presented below.

Europe

In 2010, a survey conducted by the Architects' Council of Europe in 33 countries, found that there were 524,000 architects of whom 31% were women. However the proportions differed widely from country to country. The countries with the highest proportion of female architects were Greece (57%), Croatia (56%), Bulgaria (50%), Slovenia (50%) and Sweden (49%) while those with the lowest were Slovakia (15%), Austria (16%), the Netherlands (19%), Germany (21%) and Belgium (24%). Over 200,000 of Europe's architects are in Italy or Germany where the proportions of women are 30% and 21% respectively.

English-speaking world

A study conducted in Australia in 2002 indicated that women comprise 43% of architecture students while their representation in the profession varied from 11.6% in Queensland to 18.2% in Victoria.

A United Kingdom survey in 2000 stated that 13% of practising students were women although women comprised 38% of students and 22% of teaching staff. Data from the Fees Bureau in November 2010 showed, however, that only 19% of professional architects were women, a drop of 5% since 2008.

In the United States, the National Architectural Accrediting Board reported in 2009 that 41% of architecture graduates were women while the AIA National Associates Committee Report from 2004 gives the percentage of licensed female architects as 20%. In 2003, an AIA Women in Architecture study found that women accounted for 27% of staff in U.S. architecture firms.