The green building movement’s somewhat meteoric progress from the margins to the mainstream stands in marked contrast to other more sluggish cultural shifts within the real estate industry. Yet, at least women are no longer automatically presumed to be part of the administrative support team when they arrive at off-site meetings, as was Cheryl Gray’s experience at the beginning of her career in the 1980s.
“Those days are completely gone but, especially in real estate and related industries like construction, development and brokerage, our numbers are still vastly in the minority,” says the senior vice-president responsible for Bentall Kennedy Canada’s residential property services group.
Gender diversity efforts could soon become a highlighted and mandated element of corporate governance disclosure for public companies in Ontario. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) released a consultation paper earlier this summer with proposed measures and has pledged to sponsor a follow-up stakeholder forum before new rules are issued, possibly as early as this fall.
The proposals respond to impetus in the 2013 Ontario budget, which voiced the provincial government’s support for “broader gender diversity on the boards and in senior management of major businesses, not-for-profit firms and other large organizations,” and are also in sync with a federally appointed advisory council exploring women’s participation on public and private corporate boards. That 23-member national body is expected to report later this year.
“Increasing opportunities for women to serve on corporate boards makes good sense for Canadian women and for Canada’s economy,” asserted the federal Minister for Status of Women, Rosa Ambrose, in April as she announced the creation of the advisory council.
Drilling down to the real estate sector, the same arguments would seem to apply to the challenges of attracting new entrants to an acknowledged aging, demographically skewed workforce. Strategies to find and retain skilled, ambitious personnel for all pursuits of a multi-disciplinary industry – operations, management, finance and leasing – are a frequent topic of both organized seminars and informal discussions.
“A lot of industry associations are seeing the value and creating sub-groups within their main groups to attract more women, students and young professionals but the old boys’ club is still fully in effect,” says Chandran Fernando, principal and founder of Matrix Search Group, a human resources consultancy that specializes in real estate industry placements. “It is severely under-represented in regards to women on boards or at the C-level (chief officers). Less than one per cent are women, which is shocking.”
The OSC’s consultation paper outlines a moral suasion and public pressure approach for increasing female representation. Known as the comply-or-explain model, this would add new disclosure requirements to those that public companies must meet under corporate governance policy. Other jurisdictions, including the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and several European countries, have adopted or are considering similar measures.
In Ontario, proposals call for disclosure of: policies related to women’s participation on boards of directors and in senior management; the criteria used for the selection of directors; and the actual tallies of the number of women in the organization in senior management roles or on the board. Companies would be asked to explain how their policies to advance the participation of women are implemented, monitored and are achieving results or, alternatively, disclose that they do not have such policies.
Any replication of this kind of reporting would be strictly voluntary in private corporations. Nevertheless, diversity advocates are optimistic new rules for public companies could create momentum and expectations in the market that would propel wider adoption.
“Eventually the private companies will follow since there are many talented professional women who are creating inroads. Education of the old boys’ club of the importance of women in senior level management and C-level positions is at the forefront,” says Fernando. “It’s finding the C-level guys who will be the ambassadors for women. If you get those five executives, the other 25 will follow.”
Meanwhile, there is already an evident pool for ascension.
“The examples of women in management roles up to the director and vice-president level are much more common and have become increasingly so. The ceiling that’s yet to be broken is the C-suite,” says Bentall Kennedy’s Gray. “We do have a lot of ways to encourage the promotion of, and the advocacy that is needed for, women to succeed. I think we need to really focus on that.”
At least one major investor in real estate is urging the OSC to take more proactive steps. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) advocates a quota of at least three women directors on the boards of TSX non-venture issuers along with sanctions for non-compliance.
“We are not convinced that a comply-or-explain regime provides enough incentive for companies to act,” states the OTPP’s response to the OSC consultation paper. “Given the historical track record in Canada to date, we are concerned that under a comply-or-explain regime, the absence of legal obligation will be a rationale for not increasing board gender diversity.”
Within the real estate sector, Matrix Search Group’s Fernando suggests industry associations should make more explicit commitments to recruit women and elect them to board and officer positions – a move that would also bolster associations’ self-preservation and need to stay relevant in an era when the majority of post-secondary graduates are women.
Bentall Kennedy’s Gray agrees that those graduates can be well-suited for property management’s need for a range of competencies rather than the specifically targeted proficiencies of some professions and trades. Indeed, it’s something of an industry adage that no one goes to school planning to become a property manager. Instead, well-rounded generalists fortuitously discover it’s an interesting and fulfilling way to earn a living.
“Women have a tremendous opportunity for great careers in this industry that I don’t think you can find as readily in other areas,” says Gray.
Barbara Carss is editor-in-chief of Canadian Property Management and Building Strategies & Sustainability magazines.
