“All of my bosses have been men” – on gender structures in the real-estate industry

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to create an understanding of the gender structure in the real-estate industry in Sweden. Interviews were made with younger female and male graduates. The purpose is to distinguish how these younger graduates working in the industry react to the gender structure.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 graduate younger women and men working in the real-estate industry in Sweden. As an input to the interviews a mapping of the gender structure was conducted, using annual reports of commercial real-estate companies and public housing companies in Sweden.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights that there were not any greater differences in the gender structure in Sweden, between 2001 and 2008 and none of the respondents were surprised. The symbols of men and the hegemonic masculinity – men more often holding leading and technical positions while women more often hold supporting positions in the industry – are important to understand the gender structure. In the industry the hegemonic engineering masculinity is also apparent.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of the paper might be the time period of the mapping; a longer time period might have shown a change in the structure and the amount of young female and male graduates interviewed.

Practical implications

The paper includes implication for the development of the gender structure – awareness is the first step, in order to retain talented women and men.

Originality/value

The paper fulfils an identified need to study the gender structure of the real-estate industry.

Citation

Maria Staffansson Pauli, K. (2013), "“All of my bosses have been men” – on gender structures in the real-estate industry", Property Management, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 420-434. https://doi.org/10.1108/PM-11-2012-0044