Diversity: PW should lead industry by example

Should not Property Week lead by example? In two events supported by PW and covered or advertised in that issue diversity was clearly not on the agenda.

In the roundtable discussion on the post-election real estate landscape (Client Solutions pull-out) it appeared from the pictures and names of the 14 experts that you were the only woman and the only one who was “not so pale”.

In the advertisement for the Movers & Shakers forums around the regions (Media Partner 2015: PW) out of 15 speakers, there was one woman and one “not-so-pale” face amid a sea of white males.

Could not PW insist that any event it supports makes a more serious effort to represent the diversity there is in British society today?

Simon Curtis, property director, Thomas Pocklington Trust

Editor responds: I can assure you that I personally raise this issue ahead of every single event we are involved in to ensure as diverse a range of people are invited to participate as possible. But the reality is that the industry is nowhere near as diverse as it should be and if people cannot make it, the outcome is a very pale and male group… apart from me! We cannot manufacture a diversity that currently does not exist, which is precisely why PW launched Open Plan and
is now urging people to sign up to our Diversity Charter.

So please help us address this very serious issue and sign up.