After the recent worldwide events that happened worldwide, which led to discussions and a new awareness on the issue of gender inequality – just think of the women’s strike in Iceland a few weeks ago – Gate-away.com has decided to draw up its own research on the issue. So we have asked our more than 70 thousand subscribers to our newsletter who are searching for a home in Italy on their direct or indirect experiences on gender inequality in the workplace.
What’s happening around the world. Exclusive data from Gate-away.com
A very important figure that has emerged from the survey is that 37.8% of those who have answered have said that they have been victims of or have witnessed gender discrimination in the workplace. They have also provided details and anecdotes about their own work experience, which confirm that even in those countries where gender discrimination is decreasing, unfortunately it’s still present. They described fewer opportunities for women, unequal pay for the same job as a man:
‘During a job interview I was told that the hiring person was looking for a man, even though I had all the skills required for that job’.
And, on some occasions, they have also talked about workplace harassment.
Gate-away.com has recorded how even the marital status, for both sexes, still seems to prejudice the job role, albeit in different ways. While a married man seems to have better chances than a single man, even in companies led by women, a female worker who becomes pregnant may be demoted on account of the pregnancy:
‘As a single man of 30, my career path advanced more slowly than that of a married man’.
If being a father is considered as an added value, because it conveys a greater sense of seriousness and responsibility, mothers are often considered a problem in the workplace not only in Italy but also in the rest of the world.
Data from the world in brief
Analysing the answers to the Gate-away.com survey, 64.1% are men and 35.2% are women while the remaining 0.7% preferred not to define themselves.
With regard to age groups, 40.4% are aged 66 years or older; 39.6% are 56-65; 15.9% are 46-55 and 4.10% are 36-45.
Their level of education is very high: 72.9% have a university degree or higher. 61.2% are still working.
The largest number of responses come from the United States (50.4%). They are followed by those from the United Kingdom (9.3%); Australia (4.4%); Sweden (3%) and the Netherlands (2.6%).
The study about the Italian real estate sector
Gate-away.com also took a snapshot of the employment status of women in the real estate market in Italy, a world which is historically characterised by a male predominance but which in recent years has seen women acquiring an increasingly important role, also on an economic level.
This second survey sent to real estate agents throughout Italy reveals the gender disparity that continues to be present in this sector, albeit to an increasingly limited extent. Among the factors that have influenced and decreased this disparity is that of the entrepreneurial choice of many women who have decided to start their own business, as has emerged also from some comments. One of them said:
‘After witnessing a situation of discrimination by my former boss towards a very good colleague of mine after she became pregnant, I later decided to open my own real estate agency’.
Responses to Gate-away.com’s anonymous survey came 43.8% from agents in the north of Italy, 34.4% from the centre and 21.9% from the south.
They are 90% estate agency owners – 52.4% male, 47.6% female. The age of respondents range mainly from 46-55 (42.9%), 56-65 (33.3%), more than 65 (12.7%); 36-45 (7.9%) and 18-35 (3.2%).
Among the women who have responded to the survey, 23.3% stated that they had felt discriminated against or had witnessed situations of discrimination on the workplace. Here are some of their comments:
‘Clients always thought I was the secretary’;
‘I can see that clients, both men and women, who come into the agency prefer to go to my male colleague to ask for information’;
‘Clients tend to ask my male colleague for confirmation during a negotiation’.
These statements represent the everyday life that many female real estate agents experience in the workplace.
Gender discrimination – also in the real estate market – can already occur during the early stages of job interviews. Here are some of the situations that emerge from Gate-away.com’s survey results:
- They asked me if I intended to get married and start a family.
- ‘We will only hire you with an already signed resignation letter.’ they told me.
- Several years ago, I reached the final stages of a selection for a large Italian company. In the end there were only two of us left, me and a man. They chose him because I was a woman.
- Before I opened my current business, it happened that they did not want to hire me because I was a woman.
Towards gender equality in Italy?
‘How could the gender gap in the real estate sector in Italy be filled and overcome?’ The majority of answers to this question in the Gate-away.com survey focus on the need to invest in culture and education. Change can start with the idea that the real estate agent’s job is no longer just a man’s job and one should encourage professional training courses.
Of course, what strongly emerges from the survey is the imperative of denouncing any situation of abuse or discrimination.
A second suggestion concerns differences in wages and employment opportunities. Female real estate agents would like to address the institutions for subsidies/benefits/incentives for companies that hire women who then go on maternity leave and more services such as crèches also in the workplace and parental leave.
Gate-away.com’s commitment in the gender inequality issue
Gate-away.com’s commitment in gender inequality comes from the need to attract the interest of the community, and specifically the real estate market, to the issue which unfortunately sees Italy lagging far behind other countries in the world.
Leading this corporate path is Annalisa Angellotti – CHO and co-founder of Gate-away.com – who, as a female representative of the real estate world, is also participating in a table on gender equality research organised by the Le Marche region of Italy which is Gate-away.com HQ. They have planned to sign a Europe-wide protocol that will start with a study about women in the workplace and how pregnancy and childcare affect it.
The research will be assisted by researchers from Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Austrian universities. Italian lawyers and research centres will also be involved.
‘In Italy, the culture of caring,’ explains Annalisa Angellotti, ‘still involves almost only women and this can be penalising in the workplace and especially economically. The latest data from the Inps Observatory – Italian National Social Security Institute – on the private sector employees still record an annual gender pay gap of no less than EUR 7,922. An important fact for our sector,’ Angellotti concludes, ‘is that 73% of those who have answered our survey do not think that a male boss is better than a female boss. Gender equality represents an opportunity to be seized by companies of all kinds, which should base personnel selection, internal promotions and salaries, exclusively on skills and not on gender’.
Not just words. To contribute, but above all to give a signal to the real estate sector towards reducing the gender inequality, Gate-away.com is creating a promotion dedicated exclusively to female estate agents for the month of December. This will allow them to take advantage of the services offered by the portal with a discount which is equal to the wage gap that women are forced to suffer today compared to men in the workplace.
