Can real estate win the diversity game?

Real estate is trying hard at the diversity game. And it is a hard game for it to win.

We all know that this is a white, male, middle-class dominated industry, especially at the higher levels. We all know that many of the networking events are skewed towards more traditionally male activities – golf, rugby, even cycling. We know that the take-up of shared maternity leave within the real estate community is negligible, and if we are honest with ourselves, probably always will be.

We know that women in the industry earn less, typically, than their male counterparts, are less likely to ask for a pay rise or go for a job that might be just a little bit out of their reach. We know that women sometimes go off and have babies and that sometimes they don’t want to come back full time, and sometimes they go off and have more babies.

We all know that a diverse workforce, one made up of all genders, all races, all backgrounds, is best for business, but how exactly do we get there? And are there questions that we all want to ask in this age of political correctness that we just don’t feel empowered to ask? Or questions or statements that we want to make about the current climate in a business but are just afraid to ask for fear about our career progression?

Being truly diverse requires honesty and openness and sometimes asking the questions we are afraid to ask. At MIPIM UK last week, REWIRE – an EG initiative that brings together women from across the built environment – gathered to do just that. Here are some the main questions posed.

Diversity groups abound across the industry, then there is unconscious bias training, mindfulness, political correctness…have we taken this equality thing too far? According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, a boy born last year is 75% less likely to attend university than his sister if the present trends continue.

Jackie Newstead, partner at Hogan Lovells International: “In order to rebalance there has had to be a focus on getting women to have the ambition and confidence to see that they can succeed. But, I do worry that sometimes we are pushing too far. What we need is a level playing field for everyone, not just male/female, but also the much wider diversity and inclusion agenda.”

Sam Harden, head of strategy at CLS Risk Solutions: “It is about equality, not betterment, the promotion of women but heavily supported by the guys. The more men that get on board with that, the easier it is going to be to get the balance right.”

Of 81 property events studied by Women Talk Real Estate in 2016, 50% had no women on the panels. But whose fault is it that there aren’t more women on stage at real estate events?

Andrea Carpenter, co-founder of Women Talk Real Estate: “This is about a cultural shift. Women need to be more confident to talk about what they do, rather than say, ‘I can’t attend a conference today because I have got work to do’ and not understanding that attending a conference, building contacts and networks and being seen is a huge part of work. Visibility matters. We need to be out there much more and then we will get the opportunities. I think women sometimes think that working hard is sitting at your desk and working as hard as possible and waiting for someone to reward you. We have to be much more proactive about going out there and standing up for ourselves and saying, ‘I’ve spoken at events, I’ve promoted the business, I feel my next opportunity should be this…’.”

If we really want to be diverse, should we have quotas for everything – gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, whether you like Marmite or not?

Sue Brown, executive director of planning and development at London First: “We need to be prescriptive about it. It is not always a popular view but I am all in favour of it as I think it is the only way you really effect change.”

Jackie Newstead: “I much prefer to go for targets. If you get quotas then you are pigeon-holing people too much. Target a balanced board. Just having a quota for women doesn’t really hit the wider issue, which is about having an inclusive and broader spread of society.”

What about all the really blokey networking events?

Jackie Newstead: “Because we as women criticise ‘the old boys’ club’, we can’t turn ourselves into an ‘old girls’ club’. It has got to be about something different and giving everyone the chance to get together in groups and do things that they enjoy.”

How do we escape the stereotypes of “ball-buster” women but “go-getting” men or change the nature of typically “laddish” environments?

Lucy Homer, executive general manager and head of design and technical at Lendlease: “If I think about our business, particularly our construction business where you have females out on site with subcontractors at the gritty end of construction, there is a bigger culture change that needs to happen. We’ve done a lot of work, but there is still a lot of change to go. At Glasshouse Gardens [a residential development in Stratford, E15], we had 10% women out on site doing the work, which is an incredible stat when most sites have 1%. But you do have to behave in a different way and that is the bit that we are trying to change and that is the bit that is really tough. Construction sites are problem-solving areas and having more women on them just means the problems sometimes get dealt with in a more creative calm way. Rather than the traditional boisterous construction site, it is about having a more diverse way of doing that and coming up with better solutions to the problems that we face.”

Since the Harvey Weinstein story broke and actress after actress shared their stories of inappropriate behaviour, #metoo has become an all-too-common sight on numerous social media channels. Inappropriate behaviour on at least some level of that recently splashed across the media is not unheard of in real estate. Why don’t we talk about it?

Sam Harden: “Women feel like we are making substantial progress and we don’t want to feel like we are taking a step back.”

Andrea Carpenter: “Bullying culture is something we need to address through training and education and through having more diverse management boards and workforces. Men are bullied too. This is not just a female issue.”