The Commonwealth Association of Architects came into being in 1964, and the first fully fledged conference was held in Malta in 1965. Since then, there has never been a female CAA president, and in the past 11 years since I joined as a Trustee and Alternate VP Europe, you can count the number of women taking up any leadership CAA roles on one hand.

At the last General Assembly held in Trinidad and Tobago in August 2022, I found this was the first time there were a large group of women leaders attending, many in their capacity as Presidents of their Architectural Institutes. And so, we decided to form a CAA women’s group with several of the women who had attended - to empower more women to join CAA, take up leadership positions and ultimately elect a female CAA president by 2026. We started with five members, and it has grown to 18 women with representation across all five regions; Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, and Oceania.

We believe that the successful adoption and integration of gender equity in this organisation’s senior ranks and at all other levels is an important milestone in its history and should not be taken lightly. We’d like to think that in sharing this information it will not only inspire others to join CAA but highlight a greater relevance of this institution in international communities.

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