Publications - Holding the Keys

Holding the Keys, our report on women in real estate, was published in 1996. Since then, it has remained a valuable resource for men and women interested in hearing about the pressures faced by women in this most competitive and vibrant of industries.

Some loved the industry with a passion; some found it frustrating beyond words. Some felt there were no issues or barriers for women; some found it was an industry that blocked women in both subtle and overt ways.

Rich in quotes from fifty women working in the industry the report is - to use a cliché - a good read!

How do I get a copy? Email the National Centre for Gender and Cultural Diversity at ncgcd@swin.edu.au and ask for a copy of the report to be forwarded to you. The report is issued free of charge.

Quotes

Here is what three of our fifty interviewees had to say. Contact the National Centre for Gender and Cultural Diversity at ncgcd@swin.edu.au to get a free copy of this report.

Most guys don't listen. They hear you want a house with four bedrooms and then they show you everything . . . The woman usually homes in on the female. "I know what it is you want," I say to them. "I've got your house. It's not where you're looking." They say: "I don't like that area." I say, "Humour me, it's my petrol." And they love it. They buy it because you listen and you know what they want.

I love it. It's absolutely magic. Very exciting; very stressful . . . You go to these seminars and they say you should have at least one and a half days off and we're now rostered off one day a week. But there are always things to do, people to see, advertising to check, things to organise - and generally you do them on your days off. And weekends are the time when people who work full-time need to look at houses so you have to be available.

You go to meetings with a group of men and they rattle sabres and their chests and it's all about strategy and positioning. Women go in and the first thing they say is "Well, how are we going to fix it? What are we going to do? And the jockeying for power and that sort of thing doesn't happen. Well, I tend to think that's women's strength and their weakness in the real estate industry. See, they don't know how to compete and jockey for position and power and they spend all their time fixing things so they are valuable in that area . . . and they are kept in that area because they are so good. It's not a deliberate conspiracy it's just the way women work that potentially works against them.