Women in property: ‘We generally have to work harder to achieve the same results as men’

“I believe that women in the industry generally have to work harder to achieve the same results as men,” says Marie Hunt, head of research at Irish property investment company Iput. “You can fight against that – or accept it, which is what I chose to do.”

Speaking about the commercial property sector, Hunt says: “I suppose it has always been a male-dominated industry and it’s only relatively recently, in the last couple of decades, that you’ve seen women moving up the ranks.

“In my experience, a lot of [women] I would have known would have maybe taken longer to get to those [senior position] stages; now maybe that’s because you take time out for children or whatever, but it can get hard,” she says. “It takes longer to climb the ladder.”

When Hunt left secondary school in Co Mayo she had plans to study communications at Dublin City University, but her mother was ill at the time so she decided to take a course in property valuations closer to home in Galway. That led her to complete a surveying degree in Edinburgh before getting a job on the valuations team at Gunne, which later became CBRE, where she went on to establish its research department, which she ran for 27 years before joining Iput in 2022.

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“My sense is that coming out of college at the moment, it’s very much 50/50 [of men and women] coming out of the property courses, but, as people move up the ranks, [women] tend to drift away at around senior position level,” Hunt notes. “Maybe it’s [due to taking care of] children and maybe traditionally the industry wasn’t really conducive to family life because there’s a lot of entertaining that goes on outside the working day. It’s physically out on site and it doesn’t really lend itself to working remotely.”

Maybe it’s easier for women to move up the ranks and stay in the industry [now], whereas traditionally they might have had to take time out for childcare and other reasons

—  Marie Hunt, head of research at Irish property investment company Iput

A 2019 report on caring and unpaid work in Ireland – published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) – found that on average women spend double the amount of time caring for others than men, and more than twice as much time on housework.

The report examined data collected over a decade to investigate levels of unpaid work such as childcare, care of older adults or those with a disability, and housework.

However, Hunt has noted an increase in flexibility since the Covid-19 pandemic. “Maybe it’s easier for women to move up the ranks and stay in the industry [now], whereas traditionally they might have had to take time out or leave for childcare and other reasons.”

Looking at her experience in the property sector, Claire Solon, managing director of property management firm Greystar Ireland, says: “I certainly think there have been instances where my views may have been discounted or given less importance than [those of] a male counterpart, particularly earlier on in my career.

“I’ve had many instances in meetings of people assuming a male member of my team was my manager,” she says.

The property world and indeed the field of economics has changed significantly over the past 25 years and it is wonderful to see a much greater level of gender equality in the new recruits

—  Marian Finnegan, managing director of residential and advisory at Sherry FitzGerald

“Ultimately, I can’t control unconscious, or conscious, bias, but what I can control is how I react,” says Solon, who got into the sector by completing a property economics degree at TU Dublin, adding, “Times are certainly changing, and I can see so many more women in senior decision-making positions than when I first qualified.”

It was her interest in economics that led Marian Finnegan, managing director of residential and advisory at Sherry FitzGerald, to a career in property. She focused on urban economics in an academic context, before joining Sherry FitzGerald, where she established its research department and was later appointed as group chief economist before becoming managing director in 2019.

Finnegan says although the sector, especially commercial property, was male-dominated in the 1990s, she had the privilege of working for a company guided by Mark FitzGerald’s “visionary leadership”. “[FitzGerald] was truly ahead of his time, advocating for a gender-balanced workforce long before it became a mainstream conversation,” she says.

“The property world and indeed the field of economics has changed significantly over the past 25 years and it is wonderful to see a much greater level of gender equality in the new recruits who join us each year,” Finnegan adds.

Women have a myriad of advantages when it comes to property sales, including, but not limited to, a natural ability to multitask, a keen insight into a client’s needs [and] strong communication skills

—  Orla McMorrow, deputy chief executive of the DNG Group

Orla McMorrow, deputy chief executive of the DNG Group, says she has never felt held back by her gender. “In my opinion women have a myriad of advantages when it comes to property sales, including, but not limited to, a natural ability to multitask, a keen insight into a client’s needs, strong communication skills as well as being good listeners and having a natural empathy and understanding for how stressful the whole process can be for our clients,” she says.

With her own son currently looking at his CAO options, McMorrow remembers coming across the estate agency and valuations course on Bolton Street (DIT, now TUD) and thinking, “I can see myself selling houses.” She then began her career as a junior negotiator where she has since climbed the ranks to become deputy chief executive in 2021.

Michele Jackson, director of commercial property adviser TWM, says she was encouraged to choose a career based on the section of the newspaper that most interested her, leading her to study property economics and later join a graduate programme at Knight Frank in London. She spent 20 years working for large commercial property companies before becoming a co-founder and co-owner of TWM in 2014.

“Training and qualifying as a chartered surveyor in the London commercial real-estate market was a great experience and you were given as much responsibility and exposure to sectors and clients as you wanted,” says Jackson.

“I learned early on that being commercially savvy with your own client relationships allowed you to add value to any business team and gave you control over who you worked with.”

I’ve never let being a woman hold me back. If anything, it made me step up and make my difference my point of pride

—  Emma Maye, chief executive of Ardale

Being a woman has never been an obstacle in her career, according to Jackson. “I focused on what I could control and on developing relationships that were valuable to a business.

“The investment agency sector is, however, still predominantly male and I think this is down to a combination of certain organisations’ cultures and a limited number of senior female role models,” she adds.

Emma Maye, chief executive of leading home builder Ardale and Core builders’ providers, says she believes her differences within the industry, such as being a woman and having dyslexia, as well as her diverse management background, allow her to approach situations with a unique perspective. “I’ve never let being a woman hold me back. If anything, it made me step up and make my difference my point of pride,” she says. “In an industry known for its traditional outlook, I offer a fresh viewpoint that may uncover alternative and more effective solutions.”

Maye would often be taken to greenfield sites as a child by her late father, property developer Liam Maye, and it’s something she now does with her own children – although she tries to limit work-related excursions, she says.

“Following my father’s sudden passing in 2008, transitioning into the property sector [from management] felt like a natural step for me and I had a passion about carrying on his legacy. I have now been working in this field full-time for nearly 15 years and can’t imagine doing anything else,” says Maye.

Accommodations that are often offered to women, such as part-time hours or not having to attend out-of-hours events, while well-intentioned, often have the effect of curtailing women’s career progression

—  Shirley Coulter, chief executive of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland

Shirley Coulter, chief executive of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), says she took a “circuitous route” to the property and construction sector having worked on professional representation in different fields for 18 years. “A common theme among these professions is that while progress has been made with increasing female participation, there remains a lack of female representation at senior levels,” she says.

“Apart from a couple of incidents of blatant sexism – thankfully rare – I have never felt overtly disadvantaged by my gender in my career,” says Coulter. “While [hybrid working arrangements] have somewhat levelled the playing field around flexible working for men and women, the accommodations that are often offered to women, such as part-time hours or not having to attend out-of-hours events, while well-intentioned, often have the effect of curtailing women’s career progression.”

As well as being outside of regular working hours, client-networking events have often been targeted at men and based around sport, such as golf days and rugby matches, which is fine if you’re interested in sport, notes Hunt, but can be exclusionary of some women. She says she is happy to see that slowly changing. “I’ve seen a lot of firms now having events that are more inclusive for men and women, that it’s not all about sport, and so maybe cultural events and things like that are beginning to become more prevalent.”

McMorrow points out that the property sector has significantly changed during her career, with greater numbers of women in roles at all levels including senior management, and adds that “51 per cent of DNG staff across our Dublin network are women”.

“I believe that this is a very positive trend which has been assisted by continual advancements to improve work-life balance and a focus on reducing the gender pay gap across all industries, including property. Flexibility and equality are key to support both women and men to balance having a family with career progression, with a focus on training, mentoring and development to help career progression,” says McMorrow.

For me, it is about how an organisation behaves all year round and not about balloons and cupcakes on International Women’s Day

—  Michele Jackson, director of TWM Property

In property surveying, Coulter notes that just over 20 per cent of SCSI members are women, up from 17 per cent in 2018, and, for trainee members who are on the path to becoming chartered, it’s at almost 24 per cent.

“While there have been strides made towards gender equality in the workforce, it is evident that more needs to be done, particularly if we are to achieve parity in senior leadership roles,” says Finnegan, who adds, it is “essential” to “ensure women have equal opportunities to ascend to leadership positions, and have their voices heard and are valued in decision-making processes”.

Jackson says she would encourage more women to work in the commercial real estate sector, recommending it as a varied and enjoyable career with great opportunities and great people. “Good leadership in ensuring a healthy organisational culture is essential and will support attracting and retaining more women in the profession. For me, it is about how an organisation behaves all year round and not about balloons and cupcakes on International Women’s Day.”

“Women should not be constrained by the traditional perceptions of success. We should define our own ambitions, whether that is to lead a large property company or to work part-time in a role that facilitates a good work-life balance,” says Coulter. “We must not assume that everyone’s definition of success is reaching the ‘high’ positions. Women should be supported to achieve their ambition, at whatever level that may be.”

If there is no female representation [on the board or in senior leadership], proceed with caution

—  Claire Solon, managing director of property management firm Greystar Ireland

Solon thinks women have a lot to contribute to the property industry. “The idea of shopping centres or offices, for example, being designed and delivered without representation from different genders is pretty mind-boggling,” she says.

When asked for advice from women starting out in the industry, she tells them to have a good look at the board and/or the senior leadership composition of a company: “If there is no female representation, proceed with caution,” she says.

Coulter says she has been fortunate to work with supportive women leaders who instilled confidence in her and she tries to pay that support forward, citing her work in establishing the SCSI’s Elevate mentorship programme, which was launched in 2021 and has so far had 176 mentors and mentees take part in it.

“The contrast in terms of representation of where the [development] sector was a decade ago compared with today is like chalk and cheese,” says Maye.

“We need to keep the positive tide rising and one of the main ways to achieve that is the old adage, ‘If you can see it, you can be it.’ We need to spotlight women across the sector and share their testimonies about the rewarding careers on offer, highlighting the pathways in the sector.”

“And,” says Maye, “those of us who have achieved success need to ensure that we don’t pull up the ladder behind us by mentoring the next wave of women in the industry so that they can stand on our shoulders.”