Women in Property: Giving women a voice
Contributing feature by Women in Property and their new National Chairman, Monica Green.
Great strides towards gender balance have been made in recent years, but even so, women still represent only 15% of the property and construction industry workforce. Women in Property believes that success and its rewards should be founded on merit and expertise, rather than gender.
The organisation creates opportunities, expands knowledge and inspires change for women working in the property and construction industry, linking members to fellow professionals across sectors and across the UK.
As the organisation is multi-disciplinary it encourages an exchange of ideas and sharing of expertise, often through an extensive schedule of best practice workshops, site visits, an acclaimed mentoring programme, keynote talks and social events. Over 450 events each year run across 13 branches.
Monica Green took on the position of National Chairman on 1st March 2020. Owner and director of York-based property and construction PR and digital agency, The Partners Group, Monica wants to continue and grow the work Women in Property has been doing to address workplace issues, including flexible working patterns, supporting women returners and mental wellbeing.
“I took on the National Chairman role because I believe there is still lots of work to do to challenge stereotypes, celebrate diversity, champion role models and achieve a more balanced workplace.” Explains Monica.
“Because the organisation works at the highest levels – we are regular contributors to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Women and Work,” she continues. “Our members are involved in contributing to Welsh and Scottish Government panels and we have strong relationships with professional bodies and businesses.
“The industry has definitely woken up to the need for inclusivity. It is great to hear of businesses that are making it easier for their teams to work flexibly - this is the game changer for many women. In property and construction, as in many other sectors, it is at mid-career that we lose many talented women who take a career break to start a family and have, to date, found it very hard to get back in.
“Anecdotally we know this is changing, not just for childcare reasons but also for those wanting to allocate time to other areas of their life and family. This is good for the workforce and it’s good for business. It is our hope that 2020 will see more of this, as agile and flexible working becomes the norm.”
“It is all about giving women in the industry a voice,” concludes Monica, “something Women in Property has always worked to achieve.”
Find out more about the fantastic work Women in property do at https://www.womeninproperty.org.uk/ and follow them on Twitter at @WiPUK.
