Does the gender of the professor affect the structuring of the design studio?

Abstract

A large gender difference exists in the percentage of male and female students enrolled in architecture schools. Roughly one-third of architecture students are females while about half of the student population at large is female. There is also a discrepancy between the number of female architecture graduates and the smaller number of females practicing architecture. Studies have shown that women receive differential treatment in architecture design reviews and that women believe sexism to be inherent in architectural education. The structure of each studio is determined by the professor teaching it and, therefore, is a continuation of herself/himself. This study explored whether the gender of the faculty member influences the way students are taught. It found that there are structural differences in design studios and these differences appear to be related to the gender of the professor. It also found that students perceive male and female professors' actions to be different and some of them attribute this difference to the gender of the professor.