International Women’s Day: what can be done to amplify female voices in the property industry?

Despite concerted efforts to bridge the gender gap, there is still a long way to go. Shockingly, women made up just 15% of the workforce in the property sector in 2021. So, this International Women’s Day, what can the industry do to further amplify female voices and achieve not only gender equality but true gender equity?

Starting from the top

Deloitte’s 2018 ‘Getting to a Level Playing Field: The Role of Women on Boards in the UK’ report concluded that bridging the UK gender gap in the overall work environment has the potential to create an extra £150bn on top of business-as-usual GDP forecasts in 2025. The 2023 FTSE Women Leaders Review suggests that progress is being made, with the proportion of women on the boards of Britain’s biggest listed companies rising above 40% for the first time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the real estate sector comes in at slightly below this with an average proportion of women on boards standing at 38.4%.

Clearly, there is still work to be done for the property sector to keep pace with the progress being made elsewhere towards achieving gender equality. How can we ensure there are sufficient advancement opportunities for women at the top, while simultaneously opening up entry-level opportunities for our future industry leaders?

Equity over equality

At Argyll, we are striving for gender equity, not just equality. It is crucial to acknowledge the barriers women face in the workplace in comparison to men, such as systemic bias and individual circumstances that mean we are not starting from a level playing field. We have found that workplace policies that foster support and flexibility mitigate any adverse impact of individual circumstances on the careers and advancement of our female employees.

We are proud that 56% of our executive team and 58% of our general managers are women. But we know there is still progress to be made. As a starting point, we have overhauled our training and development programmes by removing the need for new starters to complete a probationary period – allowing for financial and job security from day one. We also believe it is important to support employees through the menopause and pregnancy. In addition to a pregnancy loss policy allowing both men and women to take over two weeks leave with full pay, we offer enhanced maternity and surrogacy leave with 12 weeks’ pay and then 12 weeks’ half pay.

Simply offering flexible working is no longer enough. To strive for equity, we must recognise that a bespoke approach to workplace support and training is needed.

Grassroot change

Our supportive and flexible working policies to ensure that individual circumstances do not threaten career progression have paid dividends in fostering a diverse and committed workforce. One of our account managers who has experienced the benefits of the flexible working policy says: “Argyll was incredibly supportive, allowing me to choose a working pattern that’s right for my family. I work three days a week, with flexibility in my working hours. This means I can give 100% when I’m in the office and still make it home before bed time, enabling me to do both jobs well and have a healthy work-life balance.”

Flexible working policies and training and development opportunities are effective, tangible places to start when addressing the gender gap in the real estate sector and it is heartening to see real change taking place. But there is more work to be done. To achieve gender equity and boost the number of women in decision-making roles in the property sector, we must harness the full toolkit of support, from offering robust training and mentoring opportunities to practical support and workplace policy. Only then will we open the conversation and spark the culture of change that is essential to continued progress.