The lack of gender diversity is more pronounced in the real estate industry compared to other sectors. Real estate as an industry is stuck in the past, from a manual collection of data and analogue systems to poor female representation.
With digital transformation, progress towards gender equality and the growing relevance of sustainability to respond to the current climate emergency, we are witnessing the smartest companies across the real estate sector identifying now as the time to transition the way they operate.
The real estate industry on its own is broad and can be categorised into corporate, financial, and property management, as well as operations and service groups. Currently, less than five per cent of senior positions are held by women in the real estate industry.
When it comes to tech and real estate, the outlook is bleak. The ‘proptech’ industry sits at the intersection of real estate and technology, with very low female representation. Still, for an “in-between” industry that is a niche in an emerging area, there are not enough female founders, and there is a lack of funding to kickstart their businesses.
The bleak female representation in the industry
Historically, women tend to succumb to the lack of self-actualisation and are saddled with impostor syndrome when looking for careers, missing out on their full potential. Being a woman in proptech is a triple whammy, making it tougher to enter than other tech industries.
Additionally, the property industry is deeply traditional, and core leadership teams tend to be sexist, with women having a reduced chance to be hired at higher hierarchical levels due to their ‘old school’ ways, all evidenced by the pay gap, lack of female founders, low percentage of women in the sector and hiring women at lower-skilled roles.
Also Read: Why your next tech startup should be in the real estate industry
The main issue starts with entry barriers as many leaders in the industry worked their way up from skilled trades and other careers that are traditionally male-orientated, such as electrical, mechanical and facilities management.
With the need to be more data-driven than ever before, the real estate industry is opening up to people who have not come through these traditional routes. There are more opportunities for university-educated professionals from fields such as sustainability, mathematics and data science.
This provides a huge opportunity to level the playing field and increase visibility to new and accelerated careers, particularly for young people and female talent.
The underlying solution
As a smart building software company focused on evolving the way the built environment is being utilised for people and organisations, there is an urgent need to turn the tide and play a critical role in banishing hierarchical structures and creating a gender-equal workplace.
It starts with setting diversity metrics, and this also requires hiring managers to understand the difference between men and women in the application process and end bias-driven recruitment cycles.
Women often apply for professional jobs based on role descriptions they are fully qualified for. Men tend to be more aspirational, where a 30 per cent skill gap would not deter them from applying for the role.
We believe one of the ways to reform or improve the industry for proper female representation is to have quotas on senior management and down. Some countries have soft and binding quotas that have performed better in terms of board gender diversity than those that have not adopted any quotas.
In Asia-Pacific, while some improvements are being made, up to 30 per cent on average for women on the board, there are still improvements to be had for specific industries, such as the real-estate sector.
More women are entering who are interested in sustainability, engineering, and data science that can greatly change the way the real estate and proptech industry is operated.
Also, Read: Why Singapore becoming a tech hub is a great boost for the proptech sector
This proves a need for a broad range of technical and digital skills, as the industry is rapidly creating new, high-growth, lucrative and forward-facing careers.
The future is golden
There is a new generation of women who are facility managers and operators, asset managers and property managers, who are all skilled and technical. They are not going to stand for business as usual.
Currently, the digitalisation of smart cities will be accelerated as more women become involved. Could female representation change the way buildings are operated at the macro level? Would new buildings and blocks feel different if women were in charge of design and construction plans?
The fact that today’s smart buildings already follow an ‘a la carte’ data-driven approach that is aligned with what the owner, operator and contractor need. There’s no reason why women with their capital efficiency traits and listening skills cannot radically change the way buildings are operated.
What’s needed is for the real estate industry to better show the variety of roles needed. This undoubtedly needs to start with education in schools and universities, followed by hiring women who may not have had direct exposure to the built environment or not know about the opportunities that exist in property, tech and other overlapping areas.
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