What women in PBSA want – and the one thing they don’t

There has been an increasing voice on gender balance across the real estate sector, and lately in the student accommodation sector. Ironically, for a sector that has such a diverse end user group (students from all over the world), PBSA has yet to represent in a properly balanced way. While this extends across age, race and beliefs, for the purpose of this piece we are focusing on gender. Recent studies have flagged many different reasons for the lack of senior women in the sector, pointing towards the investor and developer cohort as the least balanced. It’s true, in our experience, the operational side of PBSA has evolved much quicker and both of us have been supported in recent years by male advocates, but there’s still much to do. Reports such as those from Real Estate Balance and others point to the lack of practical flexibility versus rhetoric as a major factor for women of childbearing age not staying or progressing in senior roles. Other reasons are more difficult to tackle and require a major change in mindset and behaviour, such as the sharing of leave for parental or other caring responsibilities, and the sharing of the domestic load. Every human is different Leading by example and advocacy from senior male executives is one solution, the eradication of “double standards” another – this requires a change of attitude and perhaps some work on unconscious bias. Moreover, there is a major obstacle that we all face and that is this archaic slant towards classifying groups and assuming people in those groups all want the same thing. Every human is different – that goes for the female gender too. It’s unhelpful to assume that we all want or can be parents. Just as it’s unhelpful to assume that we all want flexible working or that we are all driven by our emotions. Businesses would do much better to recognise the individual needs of employees and support them directly than sweeping tick-box statements that don’t get fulfilled. So perhaps the best policy for driving more women in PBSA (and, indeed the wider property industry) is to lean in and ask what can make a difference? No quick solution To remove barriers without positively discriminating and to communicate and see flexibility through – however that works for the individual. If it’s hard to hire senior women, then be honest and say so: explain why you would like a more balanced business that better represents your audience. Ask why women aren’t coming to your business and make positive changes as a result. There is no quick solution but there should be a long-term one, and we can all do better. We speak out on this subject not for our own personal recognition but for females who don’t know there’s a great career in this sector or who feel that there isn’t a place for them. Also to showcase the advocates in our businesses who have propelled us forwards as a best practice example for other leaders to recognise what power they have to help. We are all in this together. We can only control our own behaviours and influence our little bit but as a quantum we can be powerful for the future, which simply must be more representative of the communities we serve. Suraiya Comunello is chief marketing officer at Nido Living; Sorrel Basher is head of marketing & communications at GSA