Women In Property

Over the years, we have seen an increase is women led discussion groups, panels and events focused on the issues and wins in the industry. 

Our own Principal, Xavier Shea attended a panel discussion for Women In Tenant Representation Network (WTR), where spoke about the evolution of tenant reps, TR and LL dynamics, co-working and the effect it could have on TR and of course diversity.  

Xavier said of the discussion “being a very topical subject, the WTR event provided a valuable overview of the market and some relevant upcoming trends, it was attended by many of the leading tenant reps. The future of female representation in the commercial property industry is exciting.”

Women in the commercial property industry are feeling positive about how things are moving forward. Jo Gordon of Gordon Property Advisory Services says she has seen an increase of middle management leadership roles over the last few years. Ashley Casey of Steelcase also agreed “I feel optimistic for the Australian leadership roles in the commercial property industry becoming more balanced.” 

The Property Council of Australia is also supporting the shift, with its Girls in Property program which commenced in 2018.

“The Girls in Property program raises awareness amongst high school students about the raft of career paths the property industry offers and encourages greater female participation in the property industry.”

At Property Daily, we found that a factor which seems to come up is women staying in the industry longer term. 

Jo says that “we need to increase the number of women within our industry to stay / return post children and create an environment where they can envisage career progression is possible.” 

Ashley believes having more women in leadership roles will attract more women to the industry and that one of the best ways of nurturing future female leaders is by having great female role models. “This is something that our industry has and celebrates well.”

When speaking to women in the commercial property industry we discovered that this isn’t just a conversation to be had about women in property, but about diversity in general. 

“Organisations are certainly recognising that diversity (whether this be gender, age, race, religion or disability) yield financial results, improves employee engagement and encourages more creative / innovative thinking.”