Over a century of women in architecture

Architecture is a male-dominated domain. A new exhibition in the western German town of Dusseldorf highlights the works of pioneering women in the field, from Lois L. Howe and Lilly Reich to Zaha Hadid and Alison Brooks.

"It still takes a lot of self-confidence to make your way as a woman in architecture," said renowned English architect Alison Brooks recently. "We grow up with heroes and gods, and they're all male." Brooks is the only British architect to date to have won the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Manser Medal and the Stephen Lawrence Prize. The 58-year-old is considered the leading voice of her generation. And yet she says she has suffered from the lack of equality in her field.

The late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize in 2004, repeatedly emphasized how difficult it was for her to assert herself in the male-dominated world of architecture. In a typical demonstration of ongoing sexism, some critics mocked her design for the 2022 Qatar World Cup for resembling a vagina. It seems more than outdated that women would still have to justify their buildings especially in times when countries are led by female chancellors and defense ministries are run by women.