Now in its fourth year, the Property Council of Australia’s Girls in Property Program has officially kicked off in NSW in conjunction with the Department of Education, with over 400 girls of diverse backgrounds from 21 public schools taking part in the program from across Greater Sydney, Illawarra, Hunter and Port Macquarie region.
The program brings together some of the biggest property companies in NSW to work closely with schools, universities and the NSW Government with the hope that more young women will choose property as a career.
Property Council NSW Executive Director Luke Achterstraat said through Girls in Property, students would get to experience world class developments, meet industry leaders and get involved in real life property projects.
“With this initiative, we hope to raise awareness of female participation in the property industry, increase exposure to various careers available and to help high-school aged girls to make informed choices about a career in property,” Mr Achterstraat said.
“Even though the industry has made great progress in recent years, there still aren’t enough women working in property and construction and only 28% of leadership roles are held by women – with this program we hope to empower these girls to consider the property industry as a career choice, to boost diversity, creativity and innovation for the future.
“The Property Council of Australia is a strong advocate for diversity and champions the participation of women in the property industry.
“This program is just another way we can work with industry leaders, schools, universities and State and local Government to provide more opportunities for young women.”
The Property Council’s Girls in Property Program for Greater Sydney will commence at Western Sydney University’s Parramatta City Campus on 31 May 2022 and will run over three separate days until 29 June 2022.
The students will take part in a range of activities including:
- Learning about the property and infrastructure industry and hearing from women leaders about their careers
- Understanding more about university education options related to property and infrastructure
- Developing real-life projects with industry members to present to their schools
- A range of industry site tours across Greater Sydney
- Attending an awards event and Property Council Industry Business Lunch.
The nine-participating government schools in the 2022 program are Asquith Girls High School, Riverside Girls High School, Cheltenham Girls High School, Bankstown Girls High School, Randwick Girls High School, Liverpool Girls High School, Auburn Girls High School, Strathfield Girls High School and Moorefield Girls High School.
Background Information
- Over 3 girls from 21 public high schools are taking part in the 2022 program across Greater Sydney, Hunter, Illawarra and Port Macquarie regions.
- Now in its fourth year, Girls in Property brings together the biggest property companies to work closely with schools, universities, and the NSW Government to empower more women to choose to work in the property and construction industry.
Benefits
- Research carried out by Urbis from the program in 2017 and 2018 found that after attending the program, girls were more likely to identify non-traditional roles for women within the property as career options available to them.
- 48 per cent of participants in the first two years of the program spoke a language other than English at home. 19 per cent of participants lived in areas of higher socio-economic disadvantage.
- When girls were asked to identify what jobs they thought were available to women working in property before the program, common responses included:
- Real Estate (92% of respondents)
- Architecture (80%)
- Interior Design (57%).
- When girls were asked the same question after attending the program, a wider range of careers were mentioned including:
- Construction (77% of respondents up from 39% in baseline)
- Planning (72% up from 20%)
- Engineering (66% up from 41%)
- Marketing (% up from 26%)
- Business (42% up from 24%).
- A significant proportion of girls were interested in learning more about school and university study options to assist them to enter the property industry.
- All schools involved in year one and two of Girls in Property reported an increase in students selecting HSC subjects in the areas of science, mathematics, or design.
Media: Aidan Green | E: [email protected]