Gender Inequality Still Rife in UK Property Sector

A survey of estate agents has revealed a disappointing level of gender-based discrimination in the industry, reports Abode2.

While the profession overall has a roughly equal proportion of male and female players, senior roles are heavily skewed towards a boys’ club (well, a middle-aged men’s club), with far fewer women than men in top jobs.

At the start of this year, Simon Leadbetter’s marketing consultancy Unchained quizzed 841 estate agents across the UK to gain insights into the property industry’s “collective perspective” on matters ranging from market confidence and business practices to professional anxieties and mental health challenges.

Inequality continues to be a significant problem for the sector, conclude researchers. Female agents reported facing much higher levels of discrimination at work than male counterparts, although four in ten (42%) tend to ignore such behaviour rather than proactively tackling it. Of those that have experienced discrimination, 85% are women. 44% of surveyed women said they had been discriminated against at work based on gender, compared to just 5% of men.

And when it comes to dealing with clients, nearly three-quarters (71%) of female agents reported experiencing gender discrimination, and 29% felt discriminated against based on age.

These responses highlight a need for much better support systems and mechanisms within the industry to empower agents, particularly females, to address and report discrimination effectively. While the real estate sector is gender-balanced and starts with a higher percentage of women at lower levels, this diminishes sharply at board level.