Listed property needs to include more women

There are only three women CEOs in SA’s listed property sector, a woeful statistic considering there are 50 real estate counters on the JSE.

This poor representation of women is not just at executive level and commentators say that this embarrassing situation needs to change.

“Gender diversity is a subject we pay attention to and discuss with the boards of real estate investment trusts (Reits) in terms of their succession planning process,” says Robert Lewenson, head of environmental, social and governance engagement at Old Mutual Investment Group.

“Reits generally recognise there is a real problem and that the industry is still a white boys’ club, and they are trying to find ways of improving diversity.

“We have seen some positive movement on the boards of the bigger Reits — recent director appointments at Redefine, Hyprop and Vukile come to mind,” he says.

Lewenson says research is being done about what stops women from rising to top corporate positions.

He says more in-depth work needs to be done to ascertain where female graduates pursue careers and why.

“There is no reason why women cannot be CEOs and financial directors and other executives. We need to find out what a modern executive role entails and then we can see how things that many women may experience that men may not can be accommodated while being employed in an executive role. This would include things like having children while being in a top managerial or analytical role, for example,” he says.

Corporate SA also needs to get a better idea about what careers women are pursuing and why, he says.

The three women CEOs leading listed property companies are Amelia Beattie of Liberty Two Degrees, which has exposure to iconic assets owned by the Liberty Group, including Melrose Arch and Sandton City; Bronwyn Corbett, who founded JSE- and London Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed property fund Grit Real Estate; and Nosiphiwo Balfour, who manages UK and SA office-focused group Texton Property Fund.

Corbett, who recently listed Grit on the LSE, making it the first African property group on that exchange, says she has faced a lot of verbal abuse and people have often been condescending towards her.

She has therefore been proactive and employed female executives herself.

“I am very proud of Grit’s board and executive management, which is majority female. Three out of Grit’s four-member executive team are female. What is more significant is that these women are there because of their experience, work ethic and qualifications, not because of any specific empowerment agenda,” says Corbett.

There are women in other executive roles in the listed property sector, such as Inge Pick, who is the FD at Texton, Ulana van Biljon, the COO of Emira Property Fund, and Ina Lopion, who is MD at Vukile Property Fund’s Southern African portfolio.

Fund managers and real estate analysts say that more women are taking an interest in pursuing careers in the sector and in looking to manage private wealth, but progress is slow. are employing women in more senior positions than they have in the past since listed property formalised as an industry in SA in the early 2000s, according to Stanlib head of listed property funds Keillen Ndlovu.

“There is big room for improvement in the listed property sector. Women are generally underrepresented from Reits or listed property companies to asset management and stockbroking firms, more so at senior level. Younger women are more common in asset management,” he says.

“There are, however, a few companies or Reits that have made great strides in this space, like Liberty Two Degrees and Grit,” says Ndlovu.

I AM VERY PROUD OF GRIT’S BOARD AND EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT, WHICH IS MAJORITY FEMALE