Why real estate needs to be a leader in showing young women they can be the boss

EDITOR’S COMMENT I poked the bear a bit last week, which is very unlike me, I know. Maybe it was because we had a little rest from producing the magazine, or maybe it was because sometimes you really need to poke the bear. You need to force debate to bring challenges, reasons and maybe even solutions to light. I poked because of a single statistic I’d read in an interesting piece of research from the team at CBRE. The research was largely based on attitudes to work, with responses that should help businesses better understand what they need from their workplaces – physically and culturally. But, for me, I took away a feeling of complete disappointment in my own gender. CBRE’s study of more than 750 Gen Z and Millennials found that 30% of the women surveyed didn’t have leadership aspirations, with 30% of those saying they didn’t want the pressure of it. Now, you’ll all know that here at EG we spend a significant amount of time and effort (and pages) dedicated to showcasing why we need more women in leadership positions across the real estate sector (across business in general, to be honest). And there’s a growing – and impressive – list of women who are leading across our industry. Take this week’s EG Interviewee, Natasha Guerra, as an example, take Helen Gordon, Jessica Hardman, Rita-Rose Gagné, Emma Cariaga, Michela Hancock, Vanessa Simms, Sherin Aminossehe… the list goes on and on. Here are women who are amazing role models. Who should be inspirations to those 30% of young women who don’t have aspirations of leadership. I know I’m not young, but I’d love to be half as amazing as any one of those women listed above, to hold as important a role as any one of them does, to lead like them. I know we could flip that percentage and say 70% of women do have aspirations of leadership, but it’s the fact that only 7% of men didn’t that grates. That disparity in aspiration between men and women is what has me feeling disappointed. And I get it, believe me, it is harder for women. There are more expectations on us. Women are still the major caregivers. There is this view that if you’re a woman in a senior position you have to be a superwoman, because you have to do it all. Why do they never say of men in leadership positions “Oh, he’s such a superman”? There is also the expectation that a leader is male. Eyebrows are raised (still) when a woman gets the top job. I get that all of that has to change. But it’s not going to change if the next generation of women aren’t aspiring to get to the top and aren’t looking at the women who have fought to get there and wanting to get there too. After talking to Guerra, founder of flexible office business Runway East, I found myself wondering, what if it had been her, not Adam Neumann, who had launched WeWork? Where would WeWork be today? You’ll know what I mean when you read the interview, but here is a female leader who has grown a business from £100,000 to £30m in a decade, is growing profit in a very difficult marketplace, and is creating something valuable, that delivers returns but requires hard work. Her role will come with tremendous stress. It will come with sacrifices. But it will also come with rewards – financial and otherwise. The more Natashas, Helens, Emmas, Jessicas, Michelas and Sherins we have leading, the more we can change the narrative and change the expectation. My rallying cry is for this industry to lead the way. For our young women to not give up on ambition, for our senior women to reach down and lift them up, and for our men to remind their daughters, wives, nieces, friends and colleagues that there is a place for them at the top.