The Landscape Institute released an important article in their magazine release ‘Designing for Gender Equality’ last year in 2022 discussing and shining light on the gender pay gap. Some people do not recognise that the gender wage gap actually exists. Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that median hourly pay for fulltime employees was 7.9% less for women than for men (April 2021). In spite of this, the majority of people who have a Master’s degree in our industry are women (the numbers being 85% for women, and 73% for men.) In the years since the gender pay gap has been recognised, a very small amount of work has been done to close it.
In regards to pay scale, when salaries start to increase above 35k, the majority of people that hold this salary are men. The amount of women who earn less than 35k is higher than men, as there are less women in senior roles in the Landscape Industry, statistically. The landscape industry however, is marginally more female but still experiences the same wage gap as other industries. It is therefore essential to make sure that everyone is being paid and treated fairly, as well as feeling valued by others in the field.
At Arkwood, we pride ourselves on being a diverse and inclusive practice. Not only with the majority of our team being women, we are also all from diverse backgrounds from around the globe and we welcome and support members of the LGBTQ+ community. Landscape Architecture involves creating and bettering space for all people in the public domain, so it is essential that the people working to develop this reflect those in society.
Below is the Landscape Architecture digital magazine link where you can read the article in which all of this information is found (pages 64-65):