The social housing sector has a long history of innovative women making a difference. The earliest and most well-known example is Octavia Hill. She played a pivotal role in making housing management a profession and one that tended to favour women as employees. Fast forward a century or so and social housing is still a sector that appeals to women who want to make a social difference. The sector has grown in complexity and there is now an abundance of roles that require a social heart and an innovative mind to enable positive change to continue to be made in the sector.
Here at Social Housing Matters, we reached out to WISH, the network dedicated to supporting and bringing together Women In Social Housing and asked if they would work with us on a series of interviews with innovative women. Thanks to support from WISH we are launching a series of interviews that we hope will inspire the next generation of women who want to make a social difference to consider social housing as a career choice. We chose to focus on innovation, as it is a term that is often associated with technology and the private sector, and we wanted to expand what counts as innovative in housing.
We hope you enjoy the series. If you want to take part or nominate someone to interview, please get in touch at hello@socialhousingmatters.co.uk
