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Sign upCelebrating International Women’s Day 2025 in Manchester
News / 08.03.2025
To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we were pleased to work with DAC Beachcroft to bring an important and insightful discussion on the progression of women in UK real estate and its associated sectors to our members in the North West.
The conversation was moderated by our Managing Director, Sue Brown, and included the property professionals below:
- Liz Donnelly – Legal Director, DAC Beachcroft
- Rachel Dickinson – Head of Maintenance North, Tesco
- Chithra Marsh – Director, Buttress
- Joey Patrick – Partner, Stace LLP
- Lynda Shillaw – CEO, Harworth
Sue started the discussion by asking the panellists for their views on why the glass ceiling to senior leadership level remains. Chithra suggested persistent unconscious bias working against women and recommended that they seek out role models and their valuable advice and guidance. Joey said that his firm was actively removing blockers that may have held back women from being promoted in the past. Rachel discussed how she had placed limitations on herself earlier in her career but that the advocacy of male allies and, crucially, a female manager who pushed her to progress had reconfirmed that she had what it takes for a senior position. Lynda raised the point that much of the responsibility rested with employers; whether they had inclusive policies and practices in place that supported and elevated women and paid attention to the different generations in today’s workforce and the various life challenges each faced. Liz shared that setting gender balance targets at senior levels had worked for her company, with the 40% target now exceeded, but more work was still required due to firm having more lawyers who are women than men.
As a woman, you still have to shout three times as loud for people to really hear the language you are using and what you are saying.
Chithra Marsh.
Rachel spoke about working in a predominantly male environment and said she and other women often felt they had to work harder than men in comparable senior roles to be accepted and to challenge sexist attitudes and assumptions. Liz said that she felt that it was still the case that women needed to stop “waiting to be tapped on the shoulder and told its your turn” and instead actively seek out and put themselves forward for progression opportunities. Lynda added that there will always be competition for senior positions, with men and other women, so women should strive to be self-assured, prepared and confident. Chithra discussed the importance of women, particularly when they are the only one or one of a few in a position of influence, supporting the progression of other women, but that it should be done equitably because championing women over men when they are not ready for promotion does not help the businesses or the individuals involved or the wider cause of women in the workplace.
Sue also asked the panel about the role of male allies in gender inclusion efforts. Joey advocated for education in terms of how gender balance will benefit all in the business, providing tools to deepen understanding and progress workplace cultures and providing women with suitable mentors whether they be male or female.
If your culture is wrong, if you are not living and breathing those inclusive practices, it is really hard to retain talent and really hard to grow talent and the business overall.
Lynda Shillaw.
The conversation touched upon on the anti-EDI agenda in the United States heralded by the change in government, with one suggestion being that it exposed the administration’s fear of successful and powerful women. Lynda said her responsibility as a CEO was to make sure the business had the best possible people to deliver on its strategy and that EDI is just the right thing to do, a force for societal good and is making an important contribution to her organisation’s performance.
Sue asked the panellists for their single most important suggestion for advancing gender equity at work and the views included:
- Encouraging employers to align with organisations working to widen access to the industry to women.
- Focusing on up-and-coming property professionals and education and making sure this lead to values being turned into actions.
- Continuing to speak up about the importance of women progressing and if you are looking around the room and you are the only woman, saying something to challenge the normalisation.
- Taking advantage of the opportunities employers and organisations like Real Estate Balance provide to speak at events and enhance professional networks.
While I am pleased to see the number of women on Boards going up and up, I don’t think we will really break the glass ceiling until there are more women in executive positions; that will make the real difference.
Sue Brown.
One person asked the panellists about their views on demystifying leadership and the importance of leaders expressing their vulnerabilities. Liz said that the day-to-day work gets harder as you progress, there is less supervision and she sometimes questioned herself as a result. She added that she finds it reassuring to remind herself that there are seldom completely perfect solutions to difficult problems. Answering a question on intersectional feminism, Rachel said that being from a working-class background makes her a better leader as she can relate to so many of the people she manages. Chithra said the focus on EDI following the murder of George Floyd pushed the importance of “valuing the individual”. This was transformative in that it led her to focus less on assimilating and more on celebrating her Indian heritage. The final question of the session related to ideas for furthering a gender equality network and suggestions included having a say on policy development and contributing to educational and leadership development programmes.
All of us at Real Estate Balance are thankful to DAC Beachcroft for hosting this event and everyone at the company we worked with to bring it all together, to Liz, Lynda, Chithra, Rachel and Joey for contributing to the conversation and to our members who supported the event by joining us on the night.