His House, Our House and Her House: A Filmic Place for Women

Abstract

The most famous architects in the world are, and have always been, men, although a growing number of women architects are beginning to gain international and public recognition. Architecture, more than some other types of professions, has moved slowly to accommodate its own increasing number of women practitioners (Fowler and Wilson 2004). This is in part because of its link to ‘a specific historical and cultural construction of masculinity and a masculinist vision of professional work’ (Davies 1996: 661) within what remains to be a maledominated construction industry. A UK report documenting women’s membership into the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) entitled His House or Our House? (Lowe and Byrne 1993) revealed that while women were increasing in numbers in the construction workplace, they were simultaneously suffering discrimination that inhibited their ability to work happily (CIOB 1995).