Property needs female talent

While there has been a significant improvement over recent years in terms of a focus on improving the gender balance, and diversity generally, there is certainly still work to be done.

With the industry facing several challenges, including inflation and a labour shortage, it is more important than ever to support women and encourage them to join the property sector.

By not actively engaging with women in the industry, businesses risk eliminating an entire workforce who bring with them a range of skills, including professionalism, empathy and business acumen. Not embracing female talent means a business is not embracing diversity and misses out on different points of view, approaches to work and ways of generating new ideas and new business.

Over the years, scientific evidence has proved that a diverse workforce has benefits on several fronts, including employee wellbeing and productivity. Within the property industry, relationship building is key on both an internal and external basis, and women are perfectly positioned to lead in this regard, listening to others and actively seeking feedback from colleagues and clients. All these skills play an integral part in improving a business’s wider performance.

The strengths that women bring to the table can empower and inspire, having a positive knock- on effect on the wider team. I’m a firm believer that a happy team equals a more profitable business, which is of course something that every business sets out to achieve.

Overall, the discrimination women would have faced when walking on to a building site 40 or 50 years ago has gone. Our next step as an industry is to encourage the next generation of female talent into the property industry and to highlight the exciting career and professional development opportunities the sector offers.

Daphne Thissen is founder and managing director at Thissen Consulting