An Intersectional Approach Beyond Race and Gender: Women in the SA Architectural Profession.

Despite women gaining ground in various male-dominated professions, they remain largely underrepresented within the South African architectural profession. Of the 8,842 registered architects, only 20% are women and only 3% are women of color. The homogeneity of the profession is out of line with the country's population diversity demographics and shows the tangible racial and gender imbalance within the profession. Many believe the reasoning behind lack of female advancement is the historical gendered nature of the construction industry; however, what may be specific to the South African context is the legacy of Apartheid and the repercussions on the complex overlay of intersecting issues such as gender, race, education, and language that may reinforce the hegemonic power that is prevalent in the profession. An inductive approach with 16 semi-structured interviews was used to analyze the multiple ways race and gender interact within the social construct of the profession in order to better understand the structural and systemic issues that may enable or impede women as they seek to attain career advancement. The research findings show the multitude of challenges women face, which include professional and institutional culture sustaining the status quo, conscious and unconscious bias, gender role reinforcement and female attrition in the workplace. Open dialogue and the championing of transformation by those in authority are required, as well as mentorship, for female advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]