Donne in architettura: Sophia Gregoria Hayden, quando “tutto” non basta

Abstract

Feminine presence in technical professions, during the last thirty years, has had a remarkable development; however its relevance, especially in terms of ability to access decision-making roles, is still limited and the profession of architect and engineer are an eloquent example. The article deals with the Sophia Gregoria Hayden’s professional career, the first woman architect, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston Massachusetts in 1890 and with the professional context of the first decades of the twentieth century in the United States. This vicissitude represents an episode of how emancipative processes don’t follow, over time, a linear route, but they constitute a sinusoidal phenomenon, where statement phases alternate with regression ones; this is the reason why feminine achievements in technical professions, as in many other contexts, require continuous practice and constant commitment.