Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday season.

Updated Manifesto

To kick off our year well, and to reflect the changes over our first few years as a network, we have updated the WIA Manifesto for 2022.

“Women in Architecture aim to achieve equity. We want to tackle the deep-rooted, well documented gender disparities within the profession and education We recognise that for some, gender inequality is compounded by further discrimination, intersecting with class, disability, sexuality, race and other barriers which exclude and impede. We aim to be inclusive in our advocacy.”

Check out the full manifesto on our website HERE.

WIA are looking for a new Chair!

We will be saddened by the departure of our incumbent WIA Chair, Anna Schabel, who has done a superb job of forming, leading and steering the committee for the past four years.

Are you committed to championing/supporting women in the profession, enthusiastic about making a difference, and excited to make our voices heard?

We are looking for a flexible, inventive, creative and strong person, to lead our fantastic committee and take us from strength to strength. You will have an understanding of intersectional issues and champion diversity in all projects. You will act as an ambassador for WIA.

Your role will involve creating a vision and following through projects, leading the committee, speaking and representing our views and campaigning for those whose voice is not heard.

The time required is circa 2 hours a week plus attendance of regular strategy meetings and WIA events. There is no financial remuneration but the rewards can be expressed as a sense of purpose, belonging, and community spirit. You can be based anywhere in the UK, but should be available for occasional live events in London.

Application Requirements

Please provide the following:

Written CV
Email hello@wia-uk.org with Subject: Chair Position with an outline of why you believe you would be great as the WIA Chair.

Selection Process:

Submission deadline: 18th February
A review panel will interview a shortlist of candidates
Announcement: 8th March International Women’s Day

More information will be available soon, on the WIA website.

WIA Mentoring Program 2022

We are pleased to announce that our 2020 Mentoring Program is underway. Our steering committee has teamed up with Katya Veleva of BlushCloud to create new opportunities for our colleagues because we know how much great mentoring can impact a person’s career.

For the next six months mentors and mentees will be meeting online and face-to-face (where possible) and getting the most of their career growth! We are sorry to those whom we could not match in this first round of the program and hope that there will be other opportitunites for you to find a mentor in the future.

Industry News

Call Out for Advice

Sumita Singha has put a call out to all women architects and students for a new book:

Please send me your tips, anecdotes and life lessons (no more than 50 words).
This is for a new book about women in architecture to be published by the RIBA and all selections will be credited.

Contact Sumita by late Jan/early Feb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumitasingha/

Architects Declare

Architects Declare is recruiting for new members of their steering group and are keen to hear from people across the profession. Deadline for applications is the 28th January

The role description is here (download): AD Recruitment Steering Group Job Description Dec 2021 (architectsdeclare.com)

Info about AD generally here: UK Architects Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency

The current steering group is here: About Us | UK Architects Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency