It’s International Women’s Day on Sunday, 8th March.
Whenever I think of this day, my mind is always drawn to a comment on social media, a man in the estate agency industry made: “Bloody hell! When is International Men’s Day?”
I was going to reply, “It’s pretty much every day, mate, and has been since the dawn of our evolution.”
But then I remembered something my Uncle Tighe used to say, “Never argue with an idiot. From across the road, no one can tell which of you is the fool.”
Anyway, the point of this blog isn’t to be a ‘soldier’ in the culture wars and bravely battle online from the comfort of a sofa in middle-class suburbia.
I want to celebrate the female leaders in estate agency and beyond.
But I also want to be honest.
Before having my daughter, I was blind to gender bias and things like that. I was often laddish, easy-led, and, well, sometimes a bit of an eejit.
And it’s only as she’s growing up that I’ve seen it more, especially through the lens of watching her (and her teammates) experiences as a young female footballer.
The snide/crude comments from boy opponents (to be fair, this is a minority but a vocal one).
Parents, usually mums, who don’t take it well when their lad gets outdone by a girl and vocalise their frustrations, such gems as: ‘The ref is biased towards the girls! They shouldn’t be playing against boys if they can’t take it! Snap her in half!’
These experiences have shaped my thinking enormously over the past five or so years.
In preparation for writing this blog, I reviewed our Ethical Agent Network membership.
Primarily, what percentage of our members are agencies run/owned by women?
Of our current 40 members, 37.5 per cent of agencies fall into the female-led category.
I Chat GPT’d the national estate agency industry average, and it quoted this from a report in The Negotiator.
“Industry data show that while women account for around half of all estate agency employees in the UK, their representation shrinks in senior and ownership roles — with some studies finding only about 15 % of estate agencies are female-owned. Women also remain less visible at the board and leadership levels.”
I’m not going to attempt to make some profound point here clumsily, but I am going to share some things I’ve learned working with some top-level female agency owners.
Michelle Gallagher – I recall Michelle saying that when she lost an instruction, it caused her almost physical pain – this level of passion and, indeed, competitiveness, in my opinion, helps keep her at the top of her game.
Vicky Bibiris – the quote I’ve shared dozens of times from Vicky is what she said to her team in a meeting I sat in on: “We won’t be outworked OR out learned.” I love that mindset.
Sarah Mains – speaking with Sarah recently, I was blown away by her attention to detail around property management and ensuring her property managers were doing the right things daily.
Louise Young – Louise runs a predominantly female agency that is always looking for new ideas on improving the client experience.
Sue Gidney always impresses me with her down-to-earth approach to leading a highly successful agency.
I also want to give shout-outs to Carol Bassett, Gemma Myring, Amanda Carr, Janice Molloy, Sam Avery, Sacha Martin, Helen Pass, Abigail Grey, Nasim Patel and Sarah Clark.
Different styles. Different personalities. The same high standards.
I tell our daughter she can achieve anything within reason that she puts her mind to.
The women above are proof that leadership in estate agency is not defined by gender, but by standards, work ethic and integrity.
So, here’s to those quietly getting on with it.
Happy International Women’s Day.
Jerry
