The Changing Face of Real Estate

Women at the Helm

Article Date: September, 2007

By Jane Lee, Real Estate, Southern California

When it comes to the construction industry, women have long been marginalized as rarities in what was seen as a predominantly male field. Considered an industry more fitting for men, women in construction were sparse, in both field and management positions.  The dynamics, however, are changing.  Like many trades, the development industry has evolved into a more diverse profession, with women now found in every capacity.  Though once incredibly single gendered, construction has been equalized, producing teams with considerable female contributions who work on considerable-sized projects.

Fontana’s new $45-million library and resource center is just that.  Slated for completion in early 2008, the center is notable for more than its LEED certification and impressive budget—its entire development tea is composed of women.

Joanna Heinrich, senior project manager for Barnhart Construction; Kate Diamond, design principal with RNL; Patricia Laudisio, county library consultant, and Anet Willingham, construction manager for Heery International, are the people responsible for the 93,000-sf center.  When finished, the center will boast 350-seat auditorium, coffee bar, rotunda, public meeting rooms, and clock tower.

“It’s no longer a matter of whether the tam members are men or women,” says Ray Bragg, the City of Fontana’s redevelopment and special projects director.  “The project simply evolved, and the members were added one by one, because they were good.  I’m glad it worked out that way.  Sometimes you really appreciate a woman’s point of view.”

But Willingham stresses that the opportunities now available to women were not always so abundant.  “When I graduated with my degree in architecture and interior design, there were no women that preceded me,” she explains.  “But now, with equal rights and protection for women, there are lots of women in the industry.”

This, she says, brings an important asset to construction and design.  “Women gravitate toward a high degree of detail,” Willingham says. The complex systems that go into a library, for instance, need lots of attention and finish.  Women are especially good at this.” 

Other women in the industry also agree with this assertion.  Andrea Cohen Gehring, a partner of the architectural firm WWCOT, which has worked on the Autry Museum, the Wilshire Bundy Plaza, and buildings at UCLA and USC, asserts that women are superb communicators, collaborators and problem solvers.  Most importantly, Gehring says that women like herself in leadership positions serve as much-needed role models for other women.  “I wanted to be an architect and have a family, and I didn’t really have any mentors for that,” Gehring notes.

Both Gehring and Pamela Touschner, another partner of WWCOT, have found ways of balancing their professional and private lives to maximize their success.

“I’m an architect,” Touschner says.  “I’ve always operated under the fact that I’m an architect, then a woman.  You can’t let it get in your way.”

Despite the advantages of having women in architecture and construction—not to mention their increasing interest in the field—women are still a minority in these professions.  Gehring attributes this to “real life.”

“The ratios in the schools are now 50/50, but after a few years in the workplace, a lot of women leave to work part time and raise families,” she says.  “You start with the same amount of women in school, but end with fewer in the profession.”

Still, Gehring and Touschner concur that the presence of women in the field today is growing.  “When I was in school the male-female ratio was 1 to 12 maybe, 1 to 10,” Touschner notes.  “But our company has two female partners.  If you see any of our offices, it’s amazing to observe how many women there are. It definitely is changing.”

A testament to the capabilities of women in the field, WWCOT is certainly going strong, with a 15,000-sf teen center currently under way for the City of Indio, as well as a 21,000-sf office development in Palm Springs.

“Even if the tests were a bit harder, no need to be upset about it,” Touschner says.  “You’re an equal.”