Posted: September 6, 2024
By: Zein Mari Alsaka
During her time at the School of Architecture, Stephanie Hosein (MArch’10) remembers being inspired by the female architects lecturing during Professional Practice Week, but she didn’t personally experience the gender gap until she started building her career.
Hosein, who has recently been inducted as a fellow into the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), is an associate at Omar Gandhi Architects Inc.
After graduating from Dalhousie’s Master of Architecture program, Hosein moved to Toronto and started working as an Architectural Intern at KPMB Architects. There, she met Shirley Blumberg, a founding partner of the architectural firm, and joined conversations on the need for female advocacy in the profession. Hosein grew passionate about women’s empowerment and mentorship, and along with a group of other like-minded and ambitious architects, she cofounded Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT) in 2015. BEAT is a volunteer run organization that aims to empower women and other marginalized groups in architecture and design through advocacy, mentorship and networking.
Unseen biases
According to Hosein, many of the women who end up starting their own practices do so – in part – because they can’t find the balance they need elsewhere. “Whether it’s in the schools or studios, there is always the expectation of long hours in architecture,” she says. Having recently became a mother, Hosein stresses the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
“The stats are not great. A lot of women drop out of the profession, maybe because they're starting families.” Hosein says, “There are a lot of biases in the workplace, unconscious or otherwise, that you may or may not see while at school”.
Hosein finds unconscious biases are the hardest to tackle and overcome. She gradually began noticing that women often get assigned different roles than men, with men usually being given more complex and client-facing roles. She explains that while this is unintentional, it usually makes it harder for women to grow in their careers.
“If you're not careful about how you're assigning work, you might, subconsciously, be setting a path for certain people's career trajectories” she says.
Hosein also finds navigating and asserting oneself in construction sites particularly challenging for women. “Know your drawings more than anyone, have some grit and push through” she adds.
Aiming to empower
Having become a voice for equality in the field of architecture, BEAT received the 2024 RAIC Advocate for Architecture award. By bringing together women with different ranges and levels of experience, the organization creates a community of professionals that are willing to support each other and provide advice and mentorship.
“Many of our conversations are honest and vulnerable. We talk about mental health and acknowledge that everybody has struggles even if they don't talk about them” says Hosein, who was the executive committee chair of BEAT from 2021 till 2023 and is now an advisory committee member.
Following in the footsteps of BEAT, similar chapters have been established in six other Canadian jurisdictions, including one in the Atlantic region (BEA Atlantic) which Hosein helped set up, noting that the East Coast is especially close to her heart.
Words of advice
“Find something that drives you, for me it was leveraging the visibility of women in the profession. BEAT gave me the chance to meet some amazing women, ones that I’ve admired for many years, now, I’m on a first-name basis with many of them!” Hosein says.
“A lot of times, fortunately and unfortunately, it's who you know that matters. So, get out there, meet people and become a familiar face.”