we are
bold + brave
PASSING ON THE CONFIDENCE BATON
— the importance of women claiming professional recognition by Melonie Bayl-Smith LFRAIA MAICD Nominated Architect ARB 6846 ARBV 19214 Director, Bijl Architecture and Associate Professor, UNSW FADA School of Architecture & 2010 NAWIC IWD Scholarship Winner
Several years ago, I was anointed a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, my other professional member association. This gave me the privilege of adding an ‘F’ to my previously held postnominal, RAIA (no rude jokes, thanks). But to say I was ‘anointed’ misses the mark because I certainly wasn’t hand-selected for this post-nominal upgrade. Nobody called me up and said, “Hey Mel, we’re going to elevate you to Fellow, howdya like that?” Rather, I self-nominated. I garnered signatures of support from several colleagues, completed the twopage application, gave my CV a quick spit-polish and emailed the documents across the Harbour Bridge to the Institute’s NSW Chapter office. However, while it didn’t take a great deal of effort to assemble the application, entering this undertaking did ask me to ignore my self-doubts and just Get It Done. Intriguingly, my elevation to Fellow didn’t always result in the glowing responses I had perhaps naively expected from my friends and contemporaries. In fact, the addition of that little ole ‘F’ prompted some quite provocative conversations with others working in architecture. Congratulatory words were often swiftly followed with “why did you bother?” (read: it’s not a worthy accomplishment), “it won’t make a difference, the Institute is still a boys’ club” (read: your accomplishment will be ineffective) or “you’re an overachiever, so of course they would make you a Fellow” (ouch!). CUTTING DOWN THE TALL POPPY That last comment is not particularly surprising. Like Rebel Wilson1, I became acquainted with the Tall Poppy Syndrome early in life. Other kids at my primary school learned that they could quickly diminish my
academic and musical achievements with a snarky and persistent critique of my bigger-boned physique. And thinking back over all of my school years, I’ve realised that the smart, high-achieving girls were far, far more likely to attract bullying and criticism than the smart, high-achieving boys. In case you were wondering, while this reflection on my personal observations appear to be unscientific, they in fact do have some substance. In a recent academic study, Maureen O’Neill and Angie Calder found that high performing adolescent female athletes are very likely to be bullied for their successes by their peers, whilst similarly performing male athletes are likely to never be bullied for their sporting achievements.2 So, if a sport-mad country like Australia has an appetite for taking down those female achievers who participate in its overwhelmingly favourite pastime, then really what hope have we got? And given this underlying cultural hostility to the achievements of women, why did I apply to be made a Fellow? A TITLE AWARDED FOR CONTRIBUTIONS BEYOND ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE There were several reasons. Firstly, elevation to Fellow is open to member practitioners who have demonstrated leadership and made meaningful contributions in diverse ways, not just within traditional practice modes. It enables a broad range of activities related to the architectural profession – volunteering, advocacy, teaching, governance, mentoring, examining, peer review, writing, research – to be acknowledged under the banner of a clear and knowable title. This title, and others like it, isn’t reserved for overachievers either. The focus of such recognition
1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/rebel-wilson-australia-tall-poppy-syndrome-media 2. https://theconversation.com/cutting-down-the-tall-poppies-female-athletes-bullied-in-aussie-schools-44223
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THE NAWIC JOURNAL
