When I was a child, my grandma (the engineer) used to call me on the 8th of March, at the time called Day of the Working Woman, to tell me that when I grew up, and worked, I should remember to celebrate this day. I remember asking why not then, to which she responded, I had not earned the right to celebrate yet.
After the bombing of Guernica, and to spare them the horrors of the war, my gran and thousands of other children were sent away to various countries where they grew up without a family. My grandfather and her ended up in the, then, Soviet Union, where she was able to train and then work as a railway engineer until the day she had to make the decision to leave it all behind for the benefit of her family.
Once she arrived in 1950s Spain, she had to find a “better suited” role as a nurse and despite enjoying her job, every discussion we ever had about careers made very clear she felt she should have been elsewhere. For her, the Day of the Working Woman was personal. It was about parity and about making sure every woman had a chance to work in a role they felt passionate about.
My own upbringing never indicated otherwise but as an adult I learnt to acknowledge that the challenges for parity remain.
Every year, International women’s day arrives, and seeing people get involved so publicly makes me feel I too should be doing "something". This lasts for about one minute, the time it takes for me to allow myself to remember that my commitment to equality is a full-time endeavor.
As a Woman, as an Aunt, as an Entrepreneur, as a Chartered Architect, as a Volunteer across various organisations and as a Mentor, every day gives me a chance to seek ways to #balanceforbetter , in the context of the Built Environment,
International Women’s Day, to me, is a gentle reminder for us to never take things for granted but if we are serious about change, we need to be constant and consistent.
- To fight any inequality and achieve balance, we must lead the way, everyday.
- We must share the spotlight and allow others to shine rather than take the light for ourselves.
- We must give a chance for other voices to be heard, whether they express what we think or not.
- For those of us in positions of leadership we must remind ourselves we are nowhere near perfect and give others support and room to grown tall and strong.
- We must always give credit where credit is due and stop acting as though this is a surviving exercise where we should take credit for the work of others in order to shine.
This journey is not about me, it is not about you or about us individually. This is about planting seeds for a legacy to outlive us where everyone can have an opportunity to bring their best self to work.
Let’s face it, as Parliament were reminded this week, we are a minority within the Construction industry, and not many have walked the walk ahead of us, which is why we can choose to build a different roadmap.
#IWD2019 was yesterday.
Today, tell the many women in your life why you admire and respect them and the work they are doing. Thank the many generous people contributing to your career for the part they play in your progression (at work, collaborators, volunteering groups and your own /extended families) and start writing a new page for a different rule book.
What next? Here some ideas
- NAWIC: Develop with us. www.nawic.london & www.nawic.co.uk
- Fluid Mentoring: Share your knowledge www.builtbyus.org.uk/fluid
- Women into Construction: Recruit talent www.women-into-construction.org/
- Young Women Trust: Share the journey www.youngwomenstrust.org/
- BESS: Learn how to Engage schools http://www.beskillsinschools.co.uk/
- Inspiring the future: Engage the next Gen www.inspiringthefuture.org/
- RIBA Ambassadors: Show what an architect looks like https://www.architecture.com/education-cpd-and-careers/learning/architecture-ambassadors
- #nawicldn #nawic #womeninconstruction #thisiswhatanarchitectlookslike #diversity
