Everywhere to see: Women's Contributions to the Built Environment

[edit] Everywhere to see

A recent documentary posed a controversial question: "Can you name anything that a woman has built in plain sight?". This question sparked important conversations about the role of women in shaping our built environment. The answer is clear: women's innovations have been fundamental to nearly everything we see around us, yet their contributions do not get the spotlight they deserve.

[edit] Structural innovation that stands the test of time

Creating buildings that are earthquake resistant and durable is a feat of modern engineering, in part thanks to Julia Morgan’s mastery of reinforced concrete. Julia found a way to precisely place steel reinforcement and design thinner but stronger walls. What sets her work apart is that she never sacrificed aesthetics for function. Her designs were resilient and beautiful, influencing generations of architects and engineers.

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter pioneered sustainable building using rustic masonry techniques. Mary led the way in rustic masonry techniques, which involve using natural stones and materials from natural landscapes to create an organic, handcrafted and natural look for buildings. For example, she prioritized utilising limestone and sandstone from canyon walls and local timber and wood. By opening the door to future standards of context‑sensitive design, Mary Elizabeth Jane Cotter had a lasting influence on building practices. This was in result of her methods of respectfully preserving the cultural origins of rustic masonry, working with anthropologists and archaeologists, and embedding Native American symbolism into her designs.

[edit] Architecture that responds to real need

Yasmeen Lari stands out as a defining figure in architecture across the Global South. Yasmeen codified using mud, bamboo, lime, earth and thatch into manuals, prototypes and toolkits, allowing people without a background of construction to quickly learn how to respond to the need for safe, dignified housing in hazardous climate conditions. Her work constitutes innovative constructions methodologies, centring architecture on ethics, dignity and access.

[edit] Making infrastructure work safer and adaptive

In response to widespread urban fire hazards in New York, Anna Connelly’s invention of external retractable fire escapes have shaped the way fire safety is built into modern buildings. Her work has saved countless lives, changed safety laws and improved the way architects think about risk.

Dr Athanasia Amanda Septevani has developed sustainable construction materials that reuse agricultural and industrial waste, including nanocellulose, with the potential to form environmentally friendly building blocks. This offers cheaper alternatives to conventional construction materials.

[edit] Essential innovations

Tabitha Babbitt is widely credited with popularising an early circular saw design in the United States. Her invention was instrumental in the creation of better saw control, improving productivity and safety. She showed that rethinking systems can sometimes matter more than improving materials.

Tabitha’s story highlights how the invention of tools that benefit everyone often go uncredited. The circular saw was not patented under her name due to her membership of the Shaker community, which valued collective benefit over individual ownership.

Some of the most powerful innovations work precisely because you never notice them. Anti-glare glass is often used in the built environment as it allows more usable daylight, clearer views and better visual comfort. Katharine Burr Blodgett engineered anti-glare glass by developing ultra-thin molecular coating that went on to influence later developments in glass and optical engineering.

Edith Clarke made modern electrical power systems safe, efficient and predictable. She was an electrical engineer that pioneered the Clarke Calculator, which enabled accurate modelling and predictions of electrical loads across power networks. This enabled the design of buildings and cities interconnected and dependent on continuous stable electricity generation, supporting the growth of high-rise construction and modern infrastructure. The work of Edith has helped transform electricity into a dependable backbone of the built environment.

[edit] The future of the built environment

Many of the techniques, systems, and tools that underpin today’s-built environment have been driven by women whose contributions were often overlooked, under‑credited, or constrained by the conditions in which they worked.

These women did not innovate because they were encouraged to do so, but despite the barriers they faced. This inevitably raises a crucial question: how much additional innovation could the built environment have benefited from if women had been consistently supported, recognised, and retained within the profession?

Framed this way, diversity and inclusion are not matters of compliance or representation alone. It is about innovation that is currently being lost. Supporting women in the built environment is not simply the right thing to do; it is a strategic imperative for progress, resilience, and the future quality of our buildings, infrastructures, and cities.

By signing the CIOB Diversity & Inclusion Charter, organisations and individuals take a concrete step towards creating the conditions in which this innovation can thrive. The Charter is a commitment to embedding inclusive practice across the built environment: ensuring talent is supported, retained, and empowered to contribute fully. Charter Signatories gain access to a collaborative community where insight, experience, and innovation are shared to strengthen the built environment as a whole. In doing so, we move the sector forward, not only ethically, but technically, creatively, and sustainably.

This article appears on the CIOB news and blog site as "Everywhere to see: Women's Contributions to the Built Environment" and was written by Noemi Davolio, EDI Project Officer - CIOB.

--CIOB