Running Head: Female Architects 1

Female Architects
Alan Frausto
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Tafari Nungent
English 1302: RWS
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Women Architecture

Female Architects in the twenty-first century are recognized for their achievements and

projects, but this cannot be said for the women in the early nineteenth and twentieth century. Most

of their work is not praised or mentioned which deprives these women from their recognition.

They also struggled finding work in architectural firms which resulted them in working

independently. The reason being that during these times women were not respected or taken

seriously but this did not stop the focused and determined. Norma Sklarek's video interview, A

Licensed Architect, describes how she went through nineteen architectural firms and was

immediately rejected. Judith Paine's, Pioneer Women Architects, is a chapter in the book Women

In American Architecture: A historic and contemporary perspective, explains how women's work

is not given credit and unknown. These two genres both share and differ from each other on women

architecture.

Audience and Purpose

Norma Skylarks, A licensed Architect, is the first genre which is a video-interview

discussed on March 22, 2010. The significance of this interview was to enlighten viewers on

how women struggled to get hired as a female architect. The next genre, Judith Paine's pioneer

women architects, informs the readers how majority of early women architect work goes

unrecognized. It is also broken down to explain the reasons why they are not publicly

appreciated.
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Both genres explain the injustice and discrimination Women architects go through in two

different aspects. The first genre in an architectural firm and the number of firms they are turned

down to finally getting hired. The other genre an it's purpose goes over many works that have not

been exploited and shown value by breaking it down to women discrimination on how they are

not taken seriously. Norma Skylark's interview she was laughing and very confident explains

how she landed a job. The reason for her humor is that she was in bigger companies that most

men that doubted and respected her. Judith Paine goes over how also when they have some

qualifications and education as men, they are pushed to the side unrecognized.

Rhetorical Issues
Both genres show rhetorical issues in how they are being portrayed.

Ethos

In the video interview genre, the interview Norma Skylark explains the hardship of

finding a job being a woman. The information of her story, proves in a way how she fought and

never gave up going for her dream. The next genre, is a section by Judith Paine, in how women

and their work in architecture is ignored and not published. She explains that during the

nineteenth and twentieth century, men treated women not actually as at the times this profession

was under the masculine field. Both Judith and Norma are examples of women struggling to

pursue their dreams and profession. Judith builds up by organized the struggles and briefly going

in depth of the hardships after the hard work the women are just ignored.
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Pathos

Norma Skylarks Interview as mentioned earlier adds some humor to her struggles, but as

she explains and tells her story she expresses emotion. Her face and tone are emotional with her

main idea on finding a job. She then shows and expresses confidence and happiness when she

starts saying how she got jobs in higher firms than the ones that rejected her. The second genre

ties down emotion through the text. Judith tells industries that women work is not appreciated by

saying their achievements are more unknown that forgotten. She says that they have the same

rank as men but they are not masculine enough for the job. They are not taken seriously in their

profession so she explained how they had to work independently.

Logos

The logic in both genres are explained differently. In Norma Skylarks interview she

breaks it down in two parts, which is the struggle for a job. The next is how she got the job and is

doing better than the men who rejected her. Her evidence is the number of times she got declined

for hire which she said was nineteen times. These two parts connect together by describing her

story. The second genre by Judith Paine is based on how women's work goes unrecognized. Her

evidence is that she goes into detail on how men discriminate women, and the career was at high

demand and so at the time women were ridiculed.

Structure and Delivery

The information from both genres are obviously structured differently. A video interview

is different from a book in ethos pathos and logos. The video interview by Norma Skylark is
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more structured on one topic broken in two parts as mentioned earlier. This significance to this is

that the emotion and more personal feel. Compared to the book which Judith Paine is organized

in broken parts. She starts with the main idea on how the work goes unrecognized then into parts

and gives the reasons why they are.

Conclusion

The topic on female architects is difficult but with these two different genres they broke

down and explained it efficiently. They were both informative but the interview was more

personal but the book was more informal. Both genres showed two different sides to this topic

which was based on recognition and hire. They connect to the main idea but they also make a

connection of women discrimination. They were viewed below men and not taken seriously as

mentioned, it is wrong and unfair, one can agree that early architect women should be more

recognized for their work and that women are more than capable to work just as efficient or even

better (Norma Skylark) as men.

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References

Norma Skylark: a Licensed Architect. Prod. Visionaryproject. Youtube. web 22, March 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsSQe8B3p7E
Torre, Susana. Women in American Architecture: A Historic and Contemporary Perspective
Whitney Library Of Design, 1977