cheers

That could be the case, lp.

Recently, I've been nursing the theory that the current manner of educating girls creates a culture clash with some professions--specifically architecture and surgery.

I've just been through an agonizing process with a female planner. The obsessing this young woman did! .07 this! .07 that! Endless! And for nothing! .07 on a 300 ft tower? A giant time-waste. A cruel frustration for the rest of us (men plus me and her female boss).

Architecture is an imperfect endeavor. There is no perfection. There are no 1000 % batting averages--for any category. Girls arrive out of high school with the notion that perfection is success, 100% is happiness, 99% =reward. None of those rules apply when building architecture. Sometimes 60% is sublime. Sometimes a foolish mistake leads to the creation of a stunning space. Thus, foolish mistakes have to be treated with respect. I never expect to walk through my work without cringing at small errors here and there. Sometimes more than a thousand people (men mostly) have been involved in building a piece of architecture--each one adding his own tiny errors.

Anyway, the idea that women find architecture more depressing because they are not achieving the same status does not surprise me. I wonder if the frustration has deeper, innocuous cultural roots, however.

Also, for the record, working with the contractors is one of the highlights of the job. There are amazing craftsmen (and a few women) all over the world. If you want them to build your beautiful architecture, lead you to higher and higher forms of craft, it helps if they admire, respect and even love you.