For Women’s History Month, we asked Yale students to reflect on their sources of inspiration.D

For Women’s History Month, we asked Yale students to reflect on their sources of inspiration.Deniz Saip ’19, Trumbull CollegeWho is your role model/inspiration?Zaha HadidWhat kind of inspiration/role model has this woman been in your own life?I always wanted to be an architect as a child but my first interaction with the profession caught me off guard. I remember perfectly when I was shadowing an architecture firm in Turkey as a junior in high school, the women architects who were working there tried to talk me out of pursuing the career. They told me that in school I would believe that I am unstoppable and that my creativity would guide me. They told me that would not be the case: “When you start working, and that is if you can find a position as a female in the field, your ideas are mainly over-looked, not taken seriously and at some point you are forced to give up, conform and do whatever you are told to do. So, if you love architecture, don’t do it, don’t ruin it for yourself.” I thought about it a lot. I knew that architecture was not a respected field in Turkey, but what about the Western world, are they any better? The answer was no. Not until very recently that people started paying attention to women architects. It was Zaha Hadid that made the breakthrough. Against all prejudices, she managed to make bold statements through her extraordinary curves and to challenge what we think architecture is. I remember reading somewhere that it wasn’t easy for her to get to where she was: “I am non-European, I don’t do conventional work and I am a woman.” She became the first female architect to be given the Pritzker Award in 2004. And as of today, there are only two.Why should others know about this woman’s contribution?Zaha is my inspiration, not just because the amazing architecture she produced, but because she proved to the whole world that women do not have to conform to the rules that the society of the past created. She inspires me because she shows me a different path, in which a woman can do what she loves to do and in which she doesn’t have to hide or compromise in her thoughts and creativity. -- source link

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