Accelerating Gender Equity in the Property Industry

We partnered with the Property Council of Australia to deliver the Girls in Property program in June. The program raises awareness amongst high school students about the diverse career paths the property industry offers, encouraging greater female participation and helping to create a sustainable pipeline of talent.

Emily Matheson, Design Coordinator, shared her experiences of the construction and property industries with the students.

The first event since 2019 due to COVID, saw 50 excited and engaged students from Moorefield Girls High School and Strathfield Girls High School spend the day at Westfield Sydney and hear from some of our inspirational female leaders from across our business.

Karen Skinner, General Manager Centre Experience said, “We have been involved with the program since its inception and we see it as an important part of the work we do to continually address gender equality in our workplace, as well as in the property industry more widely.”

Lyn Hutcheson, Head of Business Development Innovation said: “I was thrilled to be involved with the Girls in Property initiative alongside my well-accomplished colleagues, who offered their best advice on their current roles. While our career pathways have been unique, what matters most and what was shared is that we have all continued to learn and expand our horizons at Scentre Group and there is no limit to what we can accomplish in our careers.

“It was a fabulous day to inspire the minds of our next generation of talent.”

Emily Matheson, Design Coordinator Construction said: “I felt privileged to speak to this group of year 10 and 11 schoolgirls about the career opportunities specifically in the construction industry.

“This is something I wish was available to me at their age and I'm hopeful we've been persuasive enough that they consider pursuing the property industry as a career.”

Karen concluded: “The discussions raised awareness of the diversity of career paths available within the property sector and demonstrated that the industry and – in particular, Scentre Group with over 70 different occupation groups – is a place where women can and are encouraged to have successful and senior careers as experts in their chosen field.”

At Scentre Group our gender equity strategy includes a target to achieve 40:40:20 across all levels of management by 2025. In 2022, for the third consecutive year, Scentre Group was included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index; one of nine organisations in Australia. In our 2021 Responsible Business Report our gender equity highlights included achieving 30% female representation in senior executive positions and 58% of promotions during the year being female.