The Royal Institute of British Architects has acted "to right a 180-year wrong" by giving its highest honour to a woman, the body's president has said.
Jane Duncan made the remark in a speech at a ceremony at RIBA headquarters in London last night, where architect Zaha Hadid became the first woman ever to win the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in her own right.
"Speaking as only the third woman president of the RIBA I find it amazing that it has taken until 2016 to elect the first female Royal Gold Medallist," Duncan told guests at a dinner in honour of Hadid.
"To right a 180-year wrong we elected a woman whom I have admired since my student days, visiting the AA [the architecture school where Hadid studied and taught] from the Bartlett up the road."
Related story: Zaha Hadid to receive Royal Gold Medal for architecture

Duncan added: "I come not to bury sexism but to praise Zaha. I am not here to castigate my predecessors and their committees for their masculine choices ? what else could they do given how hard we make it for women to rise to the top of our profession""
RIBA president Jane Duncan spoke to Dezeen at the dinner in honour of Hadid
Speaking to Dezeen later, Duncan said: "It was totally overdue. This is a stellar architect. Zaha was put forward a number of years ago but her body of work wasn't at that time sufficient, or so the awards panel thought."
"But she now has a wonderful body of...