The Evolution of Women’s Roles in Architecture

Over the past thirty years, the role of women in architecture and its allied disciplines has shifted in ways both visible and structural. The evolution is not simply about numbers. It is about authority. It is about risk. It is about how firms are built, how decisions are made, how leadership is defined, and how culture adapts.

For some, the early years were defined by isolation and proof. For others, by entrepreneurship without safety nets. Today, the landscape looks different: women in executive roles, visible mentorship, and growing representation across design and technical streams.

Yet change has not been linear, nor is it complete.

Through four intergenerational conversations—with a founder, a director, a senior interior designer, and principal, mechanical lead—a portrait emerges of how women’s roles in architecture have evolved, and where the profession is still headed.

Mary Georgious (Principal, Mechanical Lead) and Kseniia Kozy (Intermediate Mechanical Designer) talk confidence and culture.

Kseniia Kozy: When you started your career, what did it feel like to be a woman engineer in the room you were walking into?

Mary Georgious: That was a while ago. It was a bit terrifying at the beginning, but I was fortunate to have a few ladies, not necessarily in mechanical engineering but in related engineering disciplines, that were supportive, as well as other colleagues. I listened a lot at the beginning of my career. It was all about collecting as much data as possible just to be able to be, if I may say, smarter than the average person in the room — twice as smart if possible. So then my experience would show and reflect later on in life.

Kseniia Kozy: Did you have any women role models at work early on, and if not, how did you navigate that?

Mary Georgious: I did. She was a structural engineer at the firm that I started doing HVAC. I did different things at the beginning of my career until I landed in building design. She was amazing on a personal and career level. She would sit in the meeting and listen to me respond to certain aspects of the design and later give me feedback on how I could approach it differently or how I could approach a situation on site. She was great. I was fortunate. She was not a mechanical engineer, but she was a structural engineer. I ended up having a good friendship with her for at least 15 years of my life.

Kseniia Kozy: Did she give you ideas on not only engineering aspects, but also on women in engineering?

Mary Georgious: Yes, I think she did a lot more of that than the engineering aspect. She understood it very well. By nature, you want to understand the other disciplines you’re working with to make a complete and comprehensive design and picture, but her role was to help me navigate being a woman in the construction and engineering industry.

Kseniia Kozy: How would you combine all of the knowledge passed on to you in one or two sentences?

Mary Georgious: Be confident. Speak your opinion. Listen, Listen, Listen. Learn from others and find support. Always find a person in your industry that can support you as a person in your career. Because knowledge of design in engineering you can get from textbooks, lectures, seminars. But real-life navigation is 10 times more effective if you can find your support person.

Kseniia Kozy: Where did you find that support after your first role model?

Mary Georgious: I found it in Joanne. When I joined mcCallumSather, Joanne McCallum was still very active. By no means was she easy on me, and I think partially I am who I am today because she pushed me to be better, represent myself better, represent myself stronger. She challenged my concepts so I could perfect them and take things above and beyond what every other engineer did.

Kseniia Kozy: What’s improved most in workplace culture for women, and what still lags behind?

Mary Georgious: It is different nowadays. The construction industry has changed and respect for women has significantly increased since I started over 20 years ago. Work equality has always been a challenge and currently it’s becoming less of a challenge. A lot of companies now accommodate parents. The government has expanded mat leave beyond what I had. Most companies provide flex time and flex hours. That was not the case 20 years ago.

Kseniia Kozy: Do you ever feel intimidated when you walk on a construction site or a meeting where 95% of people are men?

Mary Georgious: No, I don’t even see it that way anymore. I don’t recognize whether the meeting is all men or all women. I don’t remember what it was like 20 years ago necessarily, but I have to give people credit for changing and making the environment comfortable and safe to the point where I personally don’t get intimidated or feel any different when the room is full of male versus female.

Kseniia Kozy: And you believe it is the structural change and not the fact that you’ve gained so much more knowledge?

Mary Georgious: I think it’s both. I don’t think it’s just a structural change. Gaining knowledge and being really good at what you do — balancing the ability to listen before you speak and when you speak be confident in what you say — plays a role. So I think it’s a combination.

Kseniia Kozy: How did you build technical authority when people doubted you?

Mary Georgious: I never had issues asking colleagues or somebody senior how they would approach a situation. You collect that knowledge. I collected a lot of knowledge from suppliers. I asked what is new and how they would approach a situation like this. I talked to contractors on sites — they are the builders. They might have a better way of doing it versus what we’ve shown in our design and drawings. It’s collecting. You never stop learning. By no means am I 100% an expert in everything. You have to be open-minded to other people’s perspective and when people challenge you.

I remember Joanne saying, “Don’t get your back up. Answer the question. It’s not personal.” They’re not attacking you as a person. They want to understand more or know if they’re getting the best solution out of their engineers. The more you focus on the response, it comes across more professional and clear and diffuses the situation.

Kseniia Kozy: What tactics help you in meetings where you were talked over or your ideas were overlooked?

Mary Georgious: I take a step back and let that person finish their thoughts. If someone’s talking over you and you talk over them, that creates an unsafe and unprofessional environment. It takes strength to sit there and listen more than when you respond.

I am fortunate to have colleagues I go to and say, this is the situation, help me talk it out loud to diffuse it so I’m not in that same scenario again. If the person is talking over you, ask yourself why. What is the issue? Are they nervous? Have you communicated something that makes them uneasy? Find out the why. Once you figure it out, you’re able to navigate around it and provide a solution that puts them at ease and helps them gain confidence in you.

Kseniia Kozy: Have you changed your communication style over time to be heard?

Mary Georgious: 110%. When you start as a junior engineer and designer, your responsibilities are different than when you are a leader. You are responsible for a department, manage a group of people, manage clients and relationships. The young engineer didn’t listen as much as the older engineer. I learned people’s styles of communication, and once you understand their style, you can adjust your response accordingly, which helps get your point across clearly.

Kseniia Kozy: As you moved into leadership, did you feel pressure to lead in a masculine way to be respected?

Mary Georgious: No! [laughs]  mcCallumSather has a very strong female leadership group. When I joined, our CEO was a woman, our CFO is a woman, our COO is a woman, the manager of interior design — woman. I find myself fortunate. Even male leadership in the company is supportive of my style and my way.

Kseniia Kozy: How would you describe it?

Mary Georgious: My leadership style?

Kseniia Kozy: Yes.

Mary Georgious: I believe I have to do what everyone else in my department is doing. There is no task big or small. Leading by example. We are one team, we’re going to work together. It’s a fun team environment.

I treat my team as people. I like to get to know them as people. There’s no need to micromanage. You have to do what you have to do to get the task done. How we do it is up to you. It’s more result-driven versus micromanaging. Listening more and providing constructive feedback whenever I can.

Kseniia Kozy: If you could change one structural thing in engineering — not in our firm — in engineering in general to improve gender equality, hiring, promotion, culture, pay transparency, mentorship, what would it be?

Mary Georgious: If engineering schools can provide opportunities to encourage younger girls to get into the program, that’s the beginning. That’s the start.

When I went to school, it was a ratio of one woman to six males. If we can encourage more into the industry, that’s the start. It can only get better from here. I don’t see how we can go backwards. There are a lot of women who have voiced their opinion throughout the years. We are finally listening.