Women in FM

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Twelve women, twelve different stories. On 30 July 2007, these 12 influential women from the facilities management industry gathered in a room to take part in the Middle East's first ‘Women in FM' roundtable event, organised by facilities management Middle East.

From business development managers to FMs and consultants, the women came from all walks of life and each had their own story to tell about their path into the FM industry.

Traditionally, most facilities management professionals were born out of engineering and it was the male species that filled these roles.

It is true that the facilities management industry is saturated with men. But there are women all over the world breaking the barriers, changing cultural perceptions and carving a niche for themselves in the sector. And the Middle East is no exception to either of these statements.

However, a concern attracting women to the industry is that the Middle East is still playing host to a stigma revolving around a woman's role in the region's society, explains Danielle Le Faucheur, senior consultant at recruitment firm Macdonald & Company.

‘Women in FM' took place to help stamp out these stigmas and help women, both local and expatriate, embrace career, education and the facilities management industry.

During the discussion, the main topics covered were: culture, gender and acceptance; training and education and recruitment and Emiratisation.

But there were other prominent areas where strong statements were made, starting with Iman Hassan's battle against her traditional, Muslim culture to fight her way up the career ladder and achieve her current job status, principle consultant at Idama Asset Management.

"It was quite a challenge for me to prove myself as an Arab, Muslim, conservative lady in the working arena. In the last 10 years I did find that being a national lady was a barrier. I would walk into a meeting room and I'd see all these faces look at me as if to say, "what are you doing here?"," she explains.

As focus then steered towards the industry, the common challenge to try and distinguish just what facilities management actually is took place.

As Michelle Strydom rightly points out, if all 12 women were to give their own definition of facilities management there would be 12 definitions.

"My comment will always be that facilities management is just housekeeping on a really big scale. You can add in service level agreements and performance management and everything else, but ultimately, it's housekeeping," claims Clare Wait, senior facilities manager, Sama Dubai.

A comment Joanna Saward, senior recruitment consultant, agrees with but also lays claim to her own analogy. "You walk into your work and say good morning to the receptionist and hello to the security guard. You then swipe your card, go through the entry barrier and press the button for the lift. You arrive at your floor, hang your coat up, turn on your computer, you might go to the restaurant round the corner and get a coffee and some toast and sit down and start your day.

"Now if any of that doesn't work, straight away you're up in arms and complaining. However, if you're able to sit at your desk and get on with your day, you haven't given it a second thought as to how you got there."

The next big question to ask was whether or not women made better FMs than their male counterparts.

A mixed response came from the ladies, with reasoning being based on the type of role in question. Interestingly, prior to the event, numerous men were asked the same question and gave the same response.

Legislation to regulate discrimination was touched upon. But as Saward points out, it might be a little early.

"It needs to be allowed to evolve in a positive way without interference from external influences that could start to dampen down the pace of growth in the region.

"It's an exciting marketplace at the moment and it's full of opportunity but it will get to a point where there needs to be more guidelines or a code of conduct."

What soon became apparent during the 90-minute discussion, was that each woman was passionate about what they do. Regardless of whether they had chosen FM as a career or fallen into it by accident.

The event showcased the challenges, developments and achievements women in FM face and have faced.

‘Women in FM' was organised by facilities management Middle East. Thanks go to Compass CAMEA for hosting the event and preparing a fantastic buffet and to 3DB for providing the recording equipment.

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