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On the occasion of the International Women's Rights Day, MYRE gives the floor to four of its collaborators. Isabelle, Bénédicte, Marie and Marine answered our questions about parity in the real estate and tech sectors, two sectors that are still not very feminized.
Isabelle, Chief Operating Officer
"MYRE was co-created by two women and one man. We remain an exception in FrenchTech when it comes to parity within a management team."
Why are there barriers to parity in tech?
The statistics are dramatic: only 17% of women at MIPIM 2018, and only 13% of management positions in French tech.
The simple fact that MYRE is a company co-founded by two women positions us as a female company.
I don't advocate feminism at all costs, because in my opinion there is no female or male vision on an IT project, there is the point of view of an expert who comes from his know-how, his academic background, his vision of the market, his knowledge of the sector and the job. However, even if the number of women in engineering and IT professions is starting to increase, the number of women working in digital professions is still lower than the rest of the sectors: 30% for digital professions vs. 46% for other sectors.
* (MIPIM 18 figures)
Bénédicte, Customer Success Management Manager
"It will be interesting to see what the participation rate of women is at MIPIM this year."
Is there a female management at MYRE?
I manage the Customer Success Management team, which is a totally mixed team and gender does not impact the development of our projects. The recent generations that have arrived on the job market, like the latest recruitments at MYRE, have understood that parity is an issue in recruitment. In addition, MYRE is managed by a majority of women, so the work of women at MYRE is obviously respected in the same way as that of men.
The transition is all set, in your opinion, where do we stand on parity in real estate?
According to my professional experience (Benedicte has been an asset and property manager), the positions are occupied in a rather equal way between men and women, in the asset, property and fund manager professions. This equality is not comparable in management positions; it seems to me that strategic and decision-making positions remain mainly male. We are gradually moving towards parity, but we need to look at remuneration conditions and the scope of responsibilities.
Marie, Algorithm Developer
"I've never felt any difference in treatment in my work as a dev. With the teams, which are rather male, there is a real benevolence."
Marie, how do you feel as a woman at MYRE?
From a global point of view, at MYRE we have a rather equal team, if only by numbers, it's quite balanced. We do have a more male tech team, as women are less likely to be recruited. But that doesn't mean that I felt that there was a difference in treatment. On the contrary, there has always been a real climate of benevolence. I think that this climate also exists because at MYRE we have a woman in the position of CEO and I feel that this helps a lot. She has a more attentive approach and listens to her employees, which is one of the qualities that we often find in women. And I think that this management style is passed on to the company and its teams.
Indeed, one thing that I have noticed at MYRE, and which I suppose is not the same everywhere, is that everyone is always listening. Whether it's about work, issues, advancement, ideas, your professional development within MYRE, sometimes even on a personal level. Everyone is always willing to see what they can bring to you, how they can help you grow. So no matter how different everyone is, there is a real sense of inclusion and a desire to move forward together.
Have you ever encountered any obstacles in your career as a developer?
I've always been in an all-male environment, whether it was in prep school, engineering school, during my internships or even today in my tech team at MYRE. I have never experienced any discrimination. I have even been able to identify a positive side to being a woman in a sector that is said to be more "masculine" because it makes you a rare profile. I think people realize that difference is ultimately an asset and that it's good to have diversity if only to bring together different qualities.
The negative side of this non-parity in tech is that it can reinforce the imposter syndrome in a woman. For example, I won't feel confident and apply for a job offer if I don't check 90% of the job description, which is often not the case for male profiles. When you arrive in a sector where you know there may be discrimination, I think you develop higher standards.
Marine, Talent Acquisition
"At MYRE we work on employer branding to make women want to join us."
How do you help maintain parity at MYRE?
In my job, I am confronted with a market reality: there are more men in engineering schools than women, so recruiting women is de facto more complicated.
I'm very proud of the fact that my first hire when I arrived at MYRE was Marie, an algorithmic developer, who is one of the pillars of our tech team.
I am convinced that the awareness of the need for parity must start at a very young age. There is still too much of a tendency to think that math is for men and French for women. As a result, men are more often represented in the engineering professions and women in marketing and HR. At MYRE we try to break these codes, the QA (recipe) team is female while the design team is entirely male!
