The extraordinary thing is that in an industry dominated at grassroots level by women (the Society of Garden Designers, the industry’s representative body, has 1,041 members, of whom 70% are female), most of the top prizes are taken by men. In more than 225 Main Avenue show gardens since 2000, only about 60 had any participation by women designers, and only one, Sarah Eberle, has gained the coveted “best in show”.
Why are there so few female designers at the Chelsea flower show? Charlotte Rowe, who won gold last year, encourages more women to enter, while Ambra Edwards meets those going for gold next week.
Read article in full: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/16/gardens-women-designers-at-chelsea-flower-show
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It would seem that a lot of female designe. The did not apply for Chelsea. Why is a good question and he answer to which we will not know, writhout actually asking them. I would suggest that as women are responsible for the majority of household duties, they are simply too busy.
The household duties comment is very sexist/old fashioned when 70% of the SGD are working women! Maybe they are booked up with more jobs than the male designers - surprising figures either way.
Wonder if the builders/landscapers at the event had the same sort of ratios? There was a comment on another forum that the media coverage of the event focussed on the designers, and gave little mention of the landscapers and builders who put in a lot of work - shame as it really is a collaborative effort between design and build teams. Wouldn't work very well without both!
Would be interesting to know % of SGD in full time Design roles?
Many (both male/female), I suspect, have 'other' demands on their time (either business/personal).
Goes back to earlier threads asking: Can you make a living as a full time Designer ?
The lack of credit given to landscapers is something I'm passionate to reverse. It's one of the founding principles of LJN.
It's not just show garden coverage either, there's a huge amount of landscaper/builder talent out there that doesn't get enough recognition.
Anyone can draw....but ;-0)
I agree with that Phil. I was sub-contracted to build the garden and worked for almost 2 weeks 12 hour days with no rest days. Got little recognition and no work out of it.
Having said that it was one of the best experiences of my life and I wouldn't change it. Wouldn't do it again though unless the design was mine :)
I built a garden at Chelsea in 2008 and the vast majority of contractors were male. The designers were well represented by women including gardens on main avenue and most won medals.
Stuart wasn't being sexist just offering an opinion of how demands still differ domestically for people.
Many medals were won by women at Chelsea this year including a garden from UAE. All gardens are scored equally by the judges. Financial support for Chelsea is based on reputation. You would not hand £200,000 to an unknown when Dan Pearson is available.
It is down to the sponsors really. They want the best possible medal to promote their cause and the designer with the highest profile to promote the organisation.
People need to start with the small gardens and build their reputation whatever their sex.