Property steps up for gender equality

Property steps up for gender equalityLed by the Property Council of Australia, the industry is set to further embrace gender equality with the formation of an industry-specific Property Male Champions of Change.The formation of the Property Male Champions of Change was announced by Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison at The Property Congress, held in Sydney last week.”For some years now, the Property Council has taken the issue of gender diversity very seriously. In what’s traditionally been a male-dominated industry, it’s beholden on the Property Council to show leadership in this space,” Morrison said.Leading businesswoman and former national president of the Property Council Carol Schwartz AM has agreed to convene the Property Male Champions of Change, which will comprise senior leaders across the industry’s development and construction, investment, funds management and agency sectors. Morrison also highlighted the contribution of Ming Long, joint managing director at Investa, for “her drive in taking the initiative to this point”. Male Property Champions of Change will build on the transformational work achieved by the founding Male Champions of Change group established in April 2010 by Liz Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Over the past four years these business leaders – hailing from a diverse mix of industries – have stepped up beside women to better understand the position of women in industry and to accelerate the process of placing women in leadership roles. Now it’s the turn of the property industry to add its firepower to this important work. “Property Male Champions of Change will target the industry’s biggest employers to maximise the potential for change,” said Morrison.