ellastica
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ESSAY continued
So we have Zaha Hadid – one of the few (only?) female architects whose name is globally recognised - who was educated by nuns in Iraq. Then there's Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails, a Wolverhampton native with a 'downtown girl' attitude. Then Caryn Franklin, TV presenter and co-founder of the All Walks Beyond the Catwalk initiative and, finally, fashion designer Bella Freud of the legendary Freud dynasty to complete the quartet.
An eclectic mixture of experiences and opinions guaranteed we could expect some interesting answers from the questions we were going to put to them. By asking the four women identical questions, we hoped a common thread would emerge that linked them all, even in their diversity.
Asking our women to reflect on their lives, careers and experiences with their own role models forced them to confront their own success and achievements – a state that sat more comfortably with some than with others. Recognising that you are an inspiration to others is a responsibility, even a burden at times, and one that our women do not take lightly.
That respect for a role they haven’t chosen sometimes grows with time, as Zaha Hadid acknowledged; she admitted that she had resisted the label ‘woman architect’ for a long time, preferring to simply be known as an architect, her gender not figuring in the discussion at all.
Eventually she realised that younger women in the field were looking up to her, depending on her as proof that it is possible to succeed in this notoriously tough profession, and she realised that her owning that title mattered so much to them that she had a duty to carry it with pride, for their sake. This confident, successful woman seemed humbled by their faith in her and honoured to be their role model.
So we have Zaha Hadid – one of the few (only?) female architects whose name is globally recognised - who was educated by nuns in Iraq. Then there's Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails, a Wolverhampton native with a 'downtown girl' attitude. Then Caryn Franklin, TV presenter and co-founder of the All Walks Beyond the Catwalk initiative and, finally, fashion designer Bella Freud of the legendary Freud dynasty to complete the quartet.
An eclectic mixture of experiences and opinions guaranteed we could expect some interesting answers from the questions we were going to put to them. By asking the four women identical questions, we hoped a common thread would emerge that linked them all, even in their diversity.
Asking our women to reflect on their lives, careers and experiences with their own role models forced them to confront their own success and achievements – a state that sat more comfortably with some than with others. Recognising that you are an inspiration to others is a responsibility, even a burden at times, and one that our women do not take lightly.
That respect for a role they haven’t chosen sometimes grows with time, as Zaha Hadid acknowledged; she admitted that she had resisted the label ‘woman architect’ for a long time, preferring to simply be known as an architect, her gender not figuring in the discussion at all.
Eventually she realised that younger women in the field were looking up to her, depending on her as proof that it is possible to succeed in this notoriously tough profession, and she realised that her owning that title mattered so much to them that she had a duty to carry it with pride, for their sake. This confident, successful woman seemed humbled by their faith in her and honoured to be their role model.
