Over 700 women across the property industry are now involved in the leadership of the Property Council of Australia following the implementation of comprehensive and ambitious diversity targets.
The completion of the committee spills for the 2017-2018 term has resulted in 43% female participation with 709 female committee members. This is up from 2015, when female participation stood at 29% with 470 female committee members.
“This is a great result for the Property Council but more importantly, for the industry”, said Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia.
“Being on a Committee helps build industry expertise, profile and networks and is an important part of our members’ career development.
“We set a target for our Committees and enlisted our members’ support via a campaign run throughout last year, called 40:40:20 (40% women, 40% men, and 20% discretionary).
“Our members have backed up in, with member nominations in excess of 40%.
“We also worked to get our systems right so that we had an integrated election process around the country and built an online nomination portal. This allowed members to take a global view of their organisation’s nominations and assisted members as they sought to make a meaningful contribution to the targets we set.”
Mr Morrison said meeting the 40:40:20 milestone was an important marker for the industry as it makes cultural change.
“We are witnessing what will become, in time, an entire generation of female leaders from across every facet of the property industry.
“We aren’t just talking the talk when it comes to changing the culture of the industry.”
Mr Morrison said the committee target was part of a suite of initiatives to expand female leadership across the industry,
“Across the industry, we are seeing meaningful change – while there is still much to do, we are no longer the laggards or dinosaurs that we once were.
“Last year, 260 women participated in our 100 Women in Property sponsorship program. Nominations for this year’s program closed last week and the number of nominations exceeded 500. The 100 Women in Property involves a personal commitment from Property Council members to champion and sponsor women in their organisation.
“As well, we enlisted leaders across the industry to participate in the Property Male Champions of Change. The purpose of this group has been to improve gender equality across the industry.”
For more information on the Property Council’s gender diversity programs visit propertycouncil.com.au/diversity.
Media contact: Paul Ritchie | E [email protected]