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Property Council of Australia’s Girls in Property Program is back for its fifth year, as the real estate body looks to continue empowering young women to explore a diverse range of career opportunities in real estate.
Over 200 girls of diverse backgrounds from public schools across Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Hunter regions are taking part in this year’s program, according to the real estate body.
Kicking off on different dates at the start of May in three locations — namely Sydney, Illawarra, and Newcastle — the program will involve seven government schools, namely Asquith Girls High School, Riverside Girls High School, Mackellar Girls High School, Randwick Girls High School, Liverpool Girls High School, Auburn Girls High School, and Strathfield Girls High School.
Property Council’s acting Illawarra director, Kelly Jones, said it was “fantastic” to have future generations involved in the program.
“Through this initiative, we hope to raise awareness of female participation in the property industry and provide students with information about a career in property,” Ms Jones said.
During the program, participants are given the opportunity to tour and explore industry sites across Greater Sydney, including 25 Martin Place, Westfield Sydney, the Intercontinental Hotel, and Metro Martin Place.
In addition, students will engage with industry leaders and collaborate on real-life property projects to present to their respective schools, with the guidance and mentorship of experienced professionals from the property industry.
“We have a range of wonderful and experienced industry mentors taking part in the Sydney, Illawarra and Hunter programs who will assist the girls to develop a property project in which they will present to their peers later in May and June,” the executive stated.
Pointing out that there “aren’t just enough women” working in the property and construction industry, Ms Jones said, “[With] this program, we hope to empower these girls to consider the property industry as a career choice, to boost diversity, creativity and innovation for the future.”
Research conducted by Urbis in 2017 and 2018 showed that attending the program led to a greater openness to non-traditional roles for women in the industry.
Prior to attending the program, the most commonly cited career options for women in the property industry were Real Estate (92 per cent of respondents), Architecture (80 per cent), and Interior Design (57 per cent).
However, after attending the program, a broader range of career options were mentioned by participants, with construction being mentioned by 77 per cent of respondents (up from 39 per cent at baseline), planning by 72 per cent (up from 20 per cent), engineering by 66 per cent (up from 41 per cent), marketing by 50 per cent (up from 26 per cent), and business by 42 per cent (up from 24 per cent).
A significant number of girls also expressed interest in learning more about school and university study options to help them enter the property industry.
Notably, schools that participated in the first two years of the program reported an increase in the number of students choosing HSC subjects in the areas of science, mathematics, or design.
Furthermore, findings showed the program has been successful in reaching out to girls from diverse backgrounds, with nearly half of the participants speaking a language other than English at home, and a significant portion coming from areas of higher socio-economic disadvantage.
Ms Jones highlighted the program as a testament to the Property Council’s commitment to being a “true advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion and champions the participation of women in the property industry”.
“This program is just another way we can work with industry leaders to support this and provide the opportunities and positive influences that women need to succeed,” she said.
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