Women in realty: Why does the sector need more women

ACROSS INDUSTRIES, IT IS CLEAR THAT GENDER DIVERSITY BENEFITS COMPANIES IN MULTIPLE WAYS

In the run-up to International Women’s Day on 08 March, an oft-repeated question is – why are women underrepresented in the real estate industry? One reason – in a traditionally maledominated industry, most men have been reluctant to take orders from women.

Yet, though this may have been true in the past, presently, an increasing number of women are slowly making their presence felt in realty.

Across all industries, it is clear that gender diversity benefits companies in multiple ways. For instance, banking and finance have benefitted immensely from having women at various levels, including in leadership positions. Similarly, real estate too is undergoing a gradual transformation as it becomes more professional and transparent in its dealings.

Women’s presence in realty is most apparent in sales & marketing, finance, administration and HR.

Conversely, representation on the Board of Directors or as promoters, CEOS and CFOS is still subpar.

Underrepresentation at the top is primarily because the sector was largely unregulated earlier. Consequently, most familyrun businesses kept women out because male family members feared their women having to operate in the realm of a largelydisorganised sector.

CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India) Women’s Wing has been imparting training and learning sessions to women to encourage there participation in the sector.

As mentioned earlier, however, much of this lies in the past. The introduction of policy reforms such as RERA, GST and other policy measures have added a great degree of discipline and professionalism in realty.

These are conditions wherein women generally outperform or match the males.

Besides working with developers, there are other options for women such as property consultancy firms.

Here, a network of connections, thorough familiarity with local conditions and communities, robust negotiating skills, persistence in pursuing deals with prolonged gestation periods, offering service with a smile while being empathetic to customer needs and preferences can all help women in driving a higher customer satisfaction ratio.

Empirical evidence from varied sectors, including BFSI, indicates women are adept at convincing customers and closing deals that traditionally require more patience and persistence.

As more women rise in the real estate hierarchy, industry males are slowly beginning to acknowledge that women can provide an extra edge in closing tough deals.

Women also bring a no-nonsense approach to realty deals while simultaneously generating a greater level of trust and credibility.

Moreover, thanks to the entry of reputed multinational corporations property consultants in the Indian market, a gender-neutral ambience is being created.

Many of these companies being equal-opportunities employers, women have as good a chance as the men in rising through the ranks on merit. Meanwhile, industry bodies such as Credai are encouraging women’s participation in the realty sector through workshops, training and learning sessions conducted by Credai Women’s Wing.

Nonetheless, there are still some concerns about hiring women at senior levels.

A major apprehension most companies have is that once a woman gets married and is in the family way, she could quit the job.

While this was true in some cases, career-conscious women are no longer letting this hinder their professional goals.

Women are now proving their proficiency at multitasking, managing the dual roles of a professional as well as a mother. Furthermore, companies are allowing such women to take a predetermined sabbatical before resuming work.

Additionally, given the extra talent that women bring to the negotiating table, most realty companies realise that ignoring female employees and leaders could offer an undue advantage to competitors.

Since the bottom line is critical in real estate, it makes little business sense for realty companies to overlook half of the country’s talent pool.