The rich world’s quiet revolution: women are gradually taking over the workplace

“AT A time when the world is short of causes for celebration, here is a candidate: within the next few months
women will cross the 50% threshold and become the majority of the American workforce.”

Some might ask what the above has to do with housing. I think there is a dramatic impact. Before touching on the housing aspects let me quote a few more statements from the Economist article.

“Women’s economic empowerment is arguably the biggest social change of our times.”

Men have, by and large, welcomed women’s invasion of the workplace.”

“Many women feel they have to choose between their children and their careers.”

“...new technology is making it easier to redesign work in all sorts of family-friendly ways.”

“Women have certainly performed better over the past decade than men.”

The housing angle goes like this. As more and more women enter the workforce or become the primary wage earner in two income families the ability of the family unit to pay for a higher standard of living in terms of housing is pronounced. This has been one of the key reasons houses are more expensive even after adjusting for inflation. A two income family can afford more. This also cuts the other way. When a couple break up or divorce it almost automatically means that neither party can afford to retain what was the family home.

Go back a few decades and you will find lenders did not like lending to a female home borrower or a couple would not get full credit for the joint income. There was a built in bias against the women’s income.

Let’s focus a minute on the technology angle. More and more people are hired for their skills and knowledge rather than their raw strength. Bashing metal or working in a mine is no longer a large sector in the countries where I invest. More and more technology is reducing the need for human power so the size of the person is less of an issue. People can work remotely and they can work collaboratively. There is a pipeline company I know of where the well heads are opened and closed remotely while just a couple of decades you needed a ‘roughneck’ with a wrench to dive to each well head.

Housing, employment and family life is changing. It has always changed; it might be changing quicker. With the right technology a knowledge worker can work from home or work outside of the normal ‘work day hours’ if that suits their family needs. A UK worker can work a ‘normal day’ for a US company while still being able to put the children to sleep prior to settling down to serious work. Time shifting is an option.

Housing might be closer to the historic farm. A place of work and a place to live. The layout of the property may need to accommodate this blended use or there will be a need for satellite offices that can be used on a temporary basis close to where people live (serviced offices or coffee shops where many hold business meetings). Access to broadband might be an issue today. In a few years broadband over the airwaves or some other technology could untether the home from the long-haul Internet backbone.

My wife tells me to avoid ground floor apartments or flats as they are a security risk for many women tenants. If I am considering a house the safety concerns seem to change while ground floor access does not.

I like to say that one cannot predict the future. One can look at existing demographics and extrapolate as most people living today will continue to do so for the average lifespan. Changes in family dynamics are slow to happen but they do happen in one’s lifetime. Just be aware of the changes and think about how your property portfolio might need to adjust over time.

-John Corey

Tags: employment trends