Women’s Leadership Summit opens with messages of equity, empowerment

Massachusetts-based band Bomba de Aqui paraded into the Sheraton Boston Hotel ballroom at the 2023 Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS) opening keynote session. The Afro-Puerto Rican dance and music company urged the crowd to “Make some noise,” and the 900 attendees answered.  

The charge for women architects to be seen and heard in their firms and their communities echoed throughout the first day of AIA’s premier event for female leaders, as attendees and speakers celebrated the evolution of women in architecture and honored the event’s rich history.

“We’ve hosted many Women’s Leadership Summits before, but this is our second annual event,” said AIA CEO/EVP Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE, who committed to making WLS a yearly gathering in 2022. In her keynote address, Woods highlighted the slow progress toward increasing the number of women in architecture, particularly women of color, and called on WLS attendees to be bold in sharing their own success.  “Statistically speaking, women don’t highlight their brilliance or their accomplishments at the same level as men. We want to develop fearless leaders who recognize their talent and knowledge and have the confidence to share it and show it,” said Woods.

Empowerment and equity themes dominated the workshops, breakout sessions, and the opening keynote.

Women from Boston and Washington, DC-area universities attend WLS as part of the inaugural WLS student delegation. Members of the delegation were nominated by their schools.

“This conference symbolizes our collective commitment to foster a greater future for women in architecture,” said AIA 2023 President Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, as she welcomed attendees. “It's not just about building structures; it's about building a community of empowered architects who not only shape skylines but also shape minds. It's about amplifying the stories of our achievements, not just for our own recognition, but to inspire the generations that will follow us.”

Equity in Society

The Equity in Society panel included Chief of Staff to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Tiffany Chu; AIA 2024 President elect, Kimberly Dowdell, AIA; Principal & Director of Science at Payette, Andrea Love, FAIA; and Co-chair of the Boston Women’s Workforce Council, Dr. Evelyn Murphy. Interior designer Alexandra Tseffos, host of The Design Pop Podcast, moderated the panel and served as event MC.

The Equity in Society panel discusses key issues facing women in architecture at the 2023 Women's Leadership Summit in Boston.

The first-of-its-kind WLS keynote explored topics like workplace experiences, attracting diversity, the value of inclusion, and the wage gap.

“The wage debate is not equal pay equal work. It’s a proxy for power,” said Murphy. “No amount of work we do will fix this unless employees take very seriously the elimination of bias under their roof. The only way to eliminate these gaps is to elevate people of color and women.”

Dowdell believes one way to attract more diverse people to the profession is to foster cultures of inclusion and place a higher value on architects. “We need architects to make more money,” Dowdell said, as the audience applauded. Dowdell encouraged attendees to join professional organizations and look to mentors to help guide paths toward leadership, reminding the audience how representation matters by sharing the story of a letter she received from a college student after becoming AIA President-elect that read, “because you won, I feel like my dreams are possible.”

To increase inclusion in the profession, Chu recommends the approach Mayor Wu takes when creating policy: Ask who is not at the table.  “It takes longer when you do good stakeholder engagement. Not only is outcome sourced for a wider set of voices but also you have a built-in set of validators for the decision you do make,” said Chu, who called on architects to use “normal language” to help make the profession more accessible to people outside the building and design industry. “If you are trying to elevate design across the country, we have to use language that normal people understand. The way that this connects to equity is that architecture becomes this highfalutin discipline that others can’t participate in,” said Chu. “That does an extreme disservice to the profession.”

Love called for firm leaders to practice core hours for flexibility, encourage discussion around mental health, and shape cultures that allow employes to feel confident offering feedback. “Everyone should feel confident to speak up, even if you are a recent graduate or a young profession,” said Love, who shared how she called on AIA to increase the number of pumping rooms for nursing mothers at conferences and events. Her request was honored.  “Your ability to speak up could change things."

Honoring WLS History

Family members of the late Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, sister AnnPing Chin and daugther Poole Chan, join WLS founders Carol Burns, FAIA, Katy Flammia, AIA, Jeanne Lukenda, FASLA, Heather Taylor, AIA, and Carole Wedge, FAIA to mark the event's retun to Boston.

Now an annual AIA event, WLS began as an effort by Boston Society for Architecture’s (BSA) Women’s Principals Group as a platform for advancing the role of women in the profession. Leaders from that group, the late Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, Carole Wedge, FAIA, Jeanne Lukenda, FASLA, Carol Burns, FAIA, Heather Taylor, AIA, Janet Ross, AIA, and Katy Flammia, AIA, were honored for their role in launching WLS. At the 2008 AIA Conference on Architecture in Boston, this group designed a Women's Leadership Workshop. Its success sparked the creation of the Women’s Leadership Summit in 2009.  

“WLS felt vital and necessary when we started,” said Flammia. “It’s very gratifying to see how it has not only endured but grown. Women leading design thinking, now more than ever, is required to solve the global systemic issues we face today.”