Nominations for 500 Women in Property 2020 opened on Monday and the oversubscribed program is accepting participants in just a few key states and territories. How can you get involved?
An initiative of the Property Council’s divisional diversity committees, 500 Women in Property capitalises on the personal commitment of sponsors to build diversity and gender equity.
Property Council members are encouraged to identify and champion women in their organisation or business sphere who may benefit from networking and develop female leaders.
“Last year, we received an extraordinary 1,100 nominations from participants and 1,100 sponsors. This is a tremendous endorsement of the success of 500 Women in Property and the commitment of our industry to diversity,” says the Property Council’s chief operating officer Kathy Mac Dermott.
As a result, last year’s program was oversubscribed and the intake for the 2020 program is fully allocated for Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
However, the Property Council is accepting participants in the ACT, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.
One of last year’s 500 Women in Property, architectural designer Zeinab Toosi from Gray Puksand, is enthusiastic about the program and urges other women to step up.
Toosi says the structured program gave her a framework to set clear career goals, learn new skills and meet new people.
“I got a lot of benefits from this program, from personal development to presentation skills. But one of the biggest benefits was the networking. It built my confidence and my connections with other people in the industry, and I learnt a lot about other professions that I don’t always come across in my day-to-day job,” Toosi says.
“The sessions were very interactive and topical. Most importantly, it was inspiring for us to run our own networking event and get engaged with a large number of professionals that we work on a regular basis with fun activities.
“I learnt so much from talking to my peers and gained new perspectives from experts. The program also helped me to maintain a very good relationship with my mentor and how to seek mentors out of the organisation, which was really valuable.”
Mac Dermott says the industry is making significant headway towards gender diversity, and points to the 2019 Male Champions of Change Impact Report one of the world’s largest voluntary disclosures on gender equality in the workplace.
The report finds Property Male Champions of Change members achieved gender balance or an increase in women’s representation across 80.4 per cent of employment categories in 2019.
“Collective action has delivered great dividends, and now is the time to redouble our efforts,” Mac Dermott urges.
“We encourage all member companies that haven’t previously participated in 500 Women in Property to get involved. Nominate an emerging woman leader or put your hand up to be a sponsor and help us expand our pipeline of future female leaders.”
500 Women in Property is for Property Council members only and is free to participate thanks to the generous support of national sponsor The GPT Group.
Nominations close on Friday 14 February 2020. Submissions – both by individuals and companies – can be made through the 500 Women in Property online portal.