The REINSW Women in Real Estate Conference (WIRE) is returning on 10 March 2021, with registrations open now.
The conference brings together women (and men) across the industry and well-known local and international speakers for a day of professional development and personal motivation. The event aims to inspire women in the male-oriented real estate industry and change the gender-imbalanced landscape.
After facing unprecedented challenges over the past 12 months due to the COVID pandemic, this year’s event is all about reflecting on your life, redefining your journey and relaunching yourself with double the force.
WIRE 2021 will be a day-long event held at Doltone House at Jones Bay Wharf, Sydney, consisting of sessions featuring speakers who will share their stories of inspiration ranging from the personal to the practical. REINSW President Leanne Pilkington will be the MC and all attendees are invited to enjoy lunch and post-event networking drinks.
We’d like to introduce to you the first of the many wonderful speakers at this popular event.
This year we’re proud to have Manal al-Sharif joining us at WIRE as our keynote speaker. Manal has been listed as one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people, as one of Forbes Top 50 Women in Tech and by Newsweek as one of the 10 tech-revolutionaries in the world. She is a prominent voice advocating for women's rights and empowerment and was one of the first Saudi women to specialise in information security, starting her career in 2002 with Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world.
A tireless activist in her own country
In 2011, Manal co-founded and led the #Women2Drive movement, to challenge the ban on women driving in her home country of Saudi Arabia. She was arrested and imprisoned for "driving while female" and was released on the condition that she never drove again on Saudi lands and never to spoke about the experience or conducted any interviews about it. Ignoring these conditions Manal continued campaigning for #Women2Drive and #IAmMyOwnGuardian with the aim to end male guardianship in her country and in June of 2018 the Saudi government lifted the ban on women driving. Manal also started #Faraj, a campaign to help domestic helpers leave jail, and #IAmLama which resulted in codifying the first anti-domestic violence law in Saudi. As a result of her tireless activism, she was awarded the first Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent.
Speaking engagements have brought recognition
Manal is a TED and Harvard speaker, she has also spoken for the United Nations, UNESCO, the Obama Summit, Google, Yahoo!, the Oslo Freedom Forum, WIRED, Trust Women, The Arab Institute in Paris, the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington DC, Roosevelt House in New York, the Clinton Global Initiative, Women in the World, Dallas World Affairs Council, and many others. Her speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum was chosen to be published in the book Speeches of Note by Shaun Usher among 75 notable speeches throughout history.
World-wide writing success
A blogger and regular contributor to international media, Manal has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Alhayat and many others publications. Her memoir, ‘Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening,’ is an intimate story of her life growing up in one of the most masculine societies in the world and an Amazon best seller. It was voted by GoodRead as one of the top ten memoirs of 2017 and was listed as #1 book for the summer reading by Oprah Magazine.
With so many accomplishments to her name, all of us here at REINSW are so excited to include Manal is this year’s WIRE line-up of speakers.
Join us at WIRE 2021
Our Women in Real Estate conference is a great way for real estate professionals, particularly women and male champions of change, to network and be inspired by our knowledgeable speakers who have years of experience, both in and out of real estate.
REGISTER FOR TICKETS NOW
Don't forget to use the promo code at checkout: RELAUNCH21
Continuing to empower female agents through these events is a positive step to address the gender imbalance, particularly at the top, to create a truer representation of the 50-50 gender split in the industry.
To hear more from Manal you can find her TED Talk by clicking here.