We are honoured to be featured on the US-based Gender Avenger website.

Our Executive Director, Amy Mullins, wrote to Gender Avenger to share with them WLIA’s work on the Panel Pledge and to thank them for their inspirational work.

Gender Avenger is a community advocacy group, founded by Gina Glantz and Susan Askew, who seek to ensure women are equally represented and heard on panels and in public forums.

They recently created a wonderful video on how we can all call-out the gender imbalance at conferences:

To read our article on the Gender Avenger website, click here.

The focus for the Property Male Champions of Change in the first half of the year was on “Listening and Learning,” to inform the group’s plan for action. The group has released an update on its work.

The Property Council established the Property Male Champions of Change in partnership with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, to drive gender equality in the historically male-dominated property industry and achieve a significant and sustainable increase in the number of women in senior leadership roles.

The initiative builds on the transformational work achieved by the founding Male Champions of Change group, established in April 2010 by Elizabeth Broderick, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Convened by Carol Schwartz AM, the members of the Property Male Champions of Change are:

• Adam Tindall – AMP Capital
• Angus McNaughton – Vicinity
• Bob Johnston – The GPT Group
• Darren Steinberg – DEXUS Property Group
• Daryl Browning – ISPT
• David Southon – Charter Hall Limited
• John Kenny – Colliers International
• John Mulcahy – Mirvac Group
• Jonathan Callaghan – Investa Property Group
• Ken Morrison – Property Council of Australia
• Mark Steinert – Stockland
• Paul McLean – Savills
• Peter Allen – Scentre Group
• Ray Pittman – CBRE
• Rod Fehring – Frasers Property Australia
• Stephen Conry – JLL
• Stephen Ellis – Knight Frank
• Steve Leigh – QIC Global Real Estate
• Steve McCann – Lendlease
• Steven Sewell

Progress

The Property Male Champions’ focus in the first half of the year was on “Listening and Learning,” to inform the group’s plan for action. “Listening and Learning” represents one of the most important elements in the Property Male Champions of Change strategy. It involves deep exploration and personal engagement to build understanding of the issue from a range of different perspectives.

To this end, the Property Male Champions focussed on understanding the facts, relevant research (including the EY and the Property Council report on gender diversity in the property industry), existing frameworks and what has and has not worked in the past.

The group reflected on the impact of their leadership on gender equality, engaged with women peers, gender experts and their own employees – women and men – to gain different perspectives on the issue, new ideas and potential solutions.

Through this work, the Property Male Champions identified six areas of action:

• Stepping up personal leadership
• Establishing best practice measurement and reporting
• Developing innovative approaches to recruitment and retention
• Mainstreaming flexible work practices
• Breaking the “Boys Club” culture in the industry
• Enabling workers to be carers.

Since June, the Property Male Champions have divided into Action Groups aligned with the six areas above. They have developed ambitious and practical plans for each group with a view to publishing a report on progress a year from now.

The Property Male Champions have established a Charter, in line with the guiding principles of the founding Male Champions group, which articulates their commitment and the standards to which they hold themselves.

The following videos were aired on August 25th at the Male Champions of Change (MCC) Business Forum in Sydney. They are short, engaging and useful videos about the key areas the MCCs have taken action on: setting targets with teeth, committing to the Panel Pledge, tackling family violence and making ‘all roles flex’.