She has overcome the glass ceiling: Barbara Schelle, city architect of Freising, has made it to a management position as a woman in a male domain.
City architect Barbara Schelle has made it into a management position as a woman in a male domain.
Before that, she too had bad experiences as a working mother.
She advises women to be more self-confident at work.
Freising - "I am the boss myself." Barbara Schelle makes this unmistakably clear on the phone when callers ask for the superior office manager.
As Freising's city architect, she is the leader of a 20-person team.
It was not difficult for her to gain a foothold in the construction industry known as the male domain.
Barbara Schelle also knows that if this is to succeed, women must not be squeamish - and must defend equality anew every day in the 21st century.
More women than men work in the city planning office, which Barbara Schelle heads.
But when she goes through her colleagues in office, that is: the other executives in the building and planning department, one after the other, she only lists men.
“Strange, actually, because more women are studying architecture,” she says.
"At work, however, men again dominate management levels."
Why is that?
“In architecture offices people often work late into the night, in my time there were just as little weekends as there was overtime.” But what there is: little money for a lot of work.
A woman who, in addition to a career, also wants children, needs enormous stamina in order to realize her dreams in this industry.
"Nobody cared if you had a sick child at home"
Schelle, born in 1965, knows what she's talking about: She studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich and did a year abroad in Rome.
After graduating in 1991, she worked in renowned architecture offices in Munich and Berlin on major projects at the time of the fall of the Wall.
But with the birth of her daughter it was over.
“The time pressure in the offices was extreme, and when a project had to be finished, nobody cared if you had a sick child at home.” In addition, Schelle didn't just want to work on small tasks, he wanted to tackle them properly himself.
"So I've changed."
Therefore, the young mother moved to a chair at the TU as a research assistant and ran her own office at the same time.
“I was able to work there more freely than as an employed architect and manage my time better,” says Schelle in retrospect.
"That was a great advantage to be able to combine family and work." That was important: "My husband is an artist, I was the family breadwinner."
Schelle: Working in Freising is great
After her time at the Technical University, Schelle decided to take a postgraduate course - another lesson.
“Training never stops.
In order to develop further, permanent learning processes are important. ”She decided to pursue a civil service career and completed a two-and-a-half-year apprenticeship as a government master builder before she worked in the state's structural engineering department and ended up in Freising in 2013.
In addition to the tasks, she also likes the ambience: “We are sitting in the beautiful district court garden.
Here it is like in a large architecture office. "
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Get going: At the corner of Krumbachstrasse and Finkenstrasse (from left) city architect Barbara Schelle, city gardener Anton Eichenlaub, Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher and construction director Gerhard Koch planted an ornamental cherry.
© Sabina Dannoura / City of Freising
In general, the work in and with Freising is great.
“The historic cityscape shaped by Domberg and Weihenstephan, the location on the Isar, the monuments: You can see that the city is a joint project,” says Schelle.
“As an architect you can draw a lot, but in the end everything will be useless if the other people involved don't join in.” She also likes the close relationship with the Freising people.
“While work in the building ministry is regulated by the state because the same rules apply from Garmisch to Aschaffenburg, work in a municipality is much closer to the citizen.
This is exciting.
Also because every day is different. "
Not all companions got this far
Schelle and her team help decide how construction projects, such as the redesign of the city center or the renovation of the baroque Asam building, will be implemented in detail.
“But we are also responsible if the citizens don't like something or something doesn't work as planned.” Some procedures are incredibly tough, and the search for a solution is often difficult.
“You quickly get worries because you often know what doesn't work.
But when you then find out what the solution can look like, which everyone agrees with, it is a moment of happiness. "
To be successful and fulfilled at work: Barbara Schelle made it.
But not many of her fellow students at the time got as far as she did.
“This glass ceiling just exists.” This metaphor stands for the phenomenon that people belonging to certain population groups cannot rise to management positions.
Schelle advises women: "Negotiate more skillfully"
Although Schelle has never obviously struggled with prejudice in her professional life, she suspects that she had to work harder than male colleagues to break the ceiling and land where she is now.
“You shouldn't be complacent and you have to be able to take something too.” At the same time, you shouldn't be afraid to open your mouth and criticize.
"Whenever I was really annoyed, I would get up and leave."
Schelle knows what she can do and is able to stand up for herself.
Not all women would do that.
“Women tend to put their light under a bushel.
And they are often more interested in the content of the work than in the position, ”she speculates.
However, it is important not to forget that the value of work is defined in terms of money, not warm words.
This is also important with a view to women's independence and pension provision.
“I know from my own experience that women have to negotiate more skilfully.” Because the fact that they are entitled to the same wages for the same work is undisputed.
"We live in the 21st century.
Equality between men and women should be a matter of course, but it is not, ”says Schelle.
Therefore, what has been achieved so far must be defended anew every day.
The portrait is the abridged version of an article that will appear on March 25 in the FT supplement “Beruf und Karriere”.
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