Madhavi Desai is the author of the book "Gender and the Built Environment in India" and is currently writing another book on Indian women architects. I met her at the CITY FORM conference and arranged to meet her at her architectural office she has with her husband Miki Desai. Together they have written a number of books on Indian architecture including one with Jon Lang from the University of New South Wales. Madhavi supported my thesis that women architects were more likely to be better at bottom up inclusive approaches to working with the urban poor than men.
Madhavi teaches and she indicates that at
least 50% of students of architecture in India are now women. Parents are
encouraging their children, particularly women, to get into professional roles.
She believes that India is a very patriarchal society and and that gender is
ignored in most architecture courses. Madhavi explained to me the strong role of
Gita Sarabhai in Ahmedabad as woman driving a focus on design. Few women architects
end up as directors of practices and many become involved in heritage and conservation.
She believes that most Indian architecture graduates are still very influenced
by the image of the STAR architect.
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