In this blog celebrating International Women’s Day, Claire Stafford, Planning Practice Adviser, shares her personal reflections on the legacy and perspective of Sylvia Law.
With International Women’s day on 8 March, it’s an opportune time to reflect on the numerous inspirational women who have positively shaped our profession over the decades.
From its beginnings as a predominantly male-dominated field, the discipline has evolved to be more inclusive. Indeed, by the end of 2026, the RTPI will have had six female presidents in seven years, and current President Helen Fadipe MBE is proudly representing and promoting BAME planners within our field, having founded the BAME Planners Network. Next year we will welcome in Jan Bessell as the 12th female president.
Sylvia Law OBE
Whilst celebrating the female leaders of today, it’s also poignant to shine a spotlight on the first ever female RTPI President - a title held by Sylvia Law OBE in 1974-75. Sylvia’s appointment marked a pivotal moment in the journey towards gender equality within the profession. However it was another two decades until the next female president was elected (Hazel Mckay), and a further 14 years until the third, Janet O’Neill, took up the role. This slow progression in achieving gender balance is representative of the other built environment professions at the time.
Sylvia began her career at Kent County Council as a planning researcher, where her input led to firmer policies on the control of development within the area, in order to counter the damaging effect of suburban sprawl on the countryside. Sylvia then moved across to the Greater London Council in 1964, where she focused on public open space provision and outdoor recreation issues. She was additionally involved in the Countryside Recreation Research Advisory Group which produced a framework for planning for the recreational and open space needs of communities.
Within her presidential address, Sylvia painted a picture which retains some relevance today:
“Populations are not properly housed, inner city communities are unhappy and disrupted, suburban communities suffer from a sense of isolation, juggernauts shudder through living areas, huge areas of blight await development, high buildings punctuate the skyline as a monument to our unfortunate enthusiasms, heritage buildings are destroyed or dwarfed, and the economic health of cities is highly unstable.
"People blame the 'planners' but they do not mean us alone, but Government and local government, powerful developers and even the public, all of whom share the responsibility for the development of cities”.
Despite the passing decades since this speech, the solutions Sylvia advocates for are familiar today, including the need for a strategic planning approach at the city-wide level to integrate social, transport, economic and environmental planning. The need for real and genuine public participation is also referenced.
Sylvia concluded her speech with a call to action which also resonates today:
“I believe that the nation should get over its love-hate relationship with planning, of which the professional planners are too often the scapegoats, and make sure that the system is effective and backed by sufficient financial resources. The country needs the system more than ever before ……Politicians and the media will be particularly important in helping to change attitudes”.
These strident force-of-nature remarks (delivered as the first female president in a still male-dominated field at the time) make Sylvia a great role model for the aspiring future female leaders within our field.
Continuing this legacy
The RTPI has made great progress on promoting gender equity within the profession, with female membership being 41.27% at the end of 2024. But there is still a little way to go to, and in our research paper analysing gender related barriers to professional advancement, we outlined 15 key recommendations for improving gender equality within planning.
To quote from this paper:
“while gender equality is crucial to all parts of society, it is particularly essential to planning because the lack of gender diversity affects not only the way we design and plan, but also who we design and plan for”.
Looking to the near future, research suggests there is much to be hopeful about, with the next generation of planners coming through the professional pipeline representing a better gender balance.
The Institute will celebrate International Women’s Day on Tuesday 11 March through a joint event with Women in Planning that will focus on gender informed planning practice. This event is free to RTPI members, with bookings open until the morning of Monday 10 March .
