Geraldine Howley: There's still some way to go for women at the top
Geraldine Howley was this week appointed vice president of the Chartered Institute of Housing. The group chief executive of Incommunities housing association beat two other challengers in the vice presidential election and, after a year as vice president of the institute, will assume the presidency in May 2015.
How did you find the election period?
It was really exciting. Part of the campaigning was done through Twitter which was quite interesting. We had a session where the candidates were all available to answer questions over Twitter. It was fast and furious and quite challenging, but really good.
There were three candidates and it was really difficult to call a winner, but it was amazing how much support I got. We also got a better voter turnout than the last election. Of course it still needs to increase further, but it's a start.
Why did you decide to run for VP?
I've been heavily involved with the institute since the early 80s up until a few years ago, but recently I've increasingly been involved again through my organisation's graduate scheme. Through that we've become a CIH-accredited centre and we've been bringing young people into the institute and our staff are being trained as tutors.
As it's an organisation I've been so involved in, I thought I'd give it a go. The CIH has an influencing role and I really want to be at the table for that, especially in an election year. I become president the same month as the new government in 2015 and that's going to be a really exciting time.
Do you think women are fairly represented in senior roles in housing?
I think we're ahead of some other sectors when it comes to it. Certainly we are somewhere near the top in terms of women in the boardroom. For women in senior executive jobs there is still some way to go, but it is better than it was.
As the chief executive of a major housing association for more than 11 years and someone who started my journey in the sector over 30 years ago I can certainly see continuous improvement.
I want to use my term to inspire those who feel under-represented and ensure there are opportunities for female leaders. Certainly things are moving in the right direction but we need to ensure we represent communities we serve and we need to champion the sector as being inclusive for all under-represented voices.
How can you try to encourage young people into housing careers?
We do that by encouraging young people. It's a passion that I have. I'd like to be more proactive in reaching young people from schools, colleges and universities and showing them what housing has to offer. We need to communicate in a way that inspires young people to say "yes" to working in housing.
It's all comes down to the future of social housing. We need to start recognising a range of people and widening the net as to who we attract into the sector.
How do you plan to encourage the development of housing professionals?
I think it's about recognising the range of people who work in housing and widening the net. I want to start attracting other people from other disciplines to join the CIH – people who work for housing providers but in areas like law and accountancy. Often when people join from the commercial sector they are members of other professional bodies, but they embrace the values and ethos of the housing sector.
A lot of people end up saying that the job is not so much about accountancy, for example, it's about people and improving lives – and people want to get involved in that side of the work. We want to say it's fine to have your first professional qualification, but why not get a housing one as well?
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