Source: Elite Agent —
To celebrate 2023’s International Women’s Day, we spoke to some of the most inspiring and influential leaders in the real industry to find out how real estate has changed in recent years, what needs to be done better and their advice for women starting out in the industry.
Elite Agent Managing Editor Samantha McLean interviewed Chief Executive Officer and Director of Laing+Simmons, Leanne Pilkington; The Agency General Manager of Sales – Victoria and Tasmania, Sally O’Connell; Director of The Property Collective and REIACT President, Hannah Gill; REIA CEO, Anna Neelagama; and General Manager – Customer Marketing at REA Group, Amy Read to get their insights on what International Women’s Day means to them.
The importance of celebrating IWD
International Women’s Day is an opportunity to call out the women in the real estate industry who are doing incredible things, Leanne says.
“There’s a lot of women in the industry that inspire me, particularly the ones that have reinvented themselves and started businesses from nothing, and they’re all of a sudden doing great things,” Leanne says.
Amy says that she’ll be using International Women’s Day as an opportunity to talk to her children about past achievements and future goals.
“One of the things that I like about the focus on International Women’s Day is (the opportunity it provides) to have a conversation with my children.”
She added that it was an important time for reflection.
“It’s not just the industry that’s changed, I think the whole world has changed,” Amy says.
“I think we have come so far, but we’ve got an incredibly long way still to go.”
What companies can do to improve gender diversity
Hannah Gill says there’s still room for greater gender diversity at the executive level of the industry.
“If there’s a gap I’m mindful of, it would be the executive level of larger businesses, and I’d love to see more women getting on to their industry or with real estate boards or their real estate institutes and really contributing from leadership, governance or executive level,” she says.
Anna says that making a workplace more inclusive could be as simple as scheduling meetings at more appropriate times.
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