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Staff Reporter
Real estate may be one of the busiest career paths, but this has not stopped one agent from balancing motherhood and her job.
Sales agent for Place Estate Agents Alex Rutherford managed to continue working throughout her pregnancy, selling property from her New Farm office in Queensland.
“I was one of those wonderful subjects that everyone hates because I didn’t really get any morning sickness and I didn’t start showing until I was five and a half months pregnant,” she said.
“I worked right up until the evening before the caesarean, had little Oliver, and then was back on the phone in the afternoon negotiating a sale of a house.”
However, being pregnant exposed Ms Rutherford to gender inequality, which meant new listings were difficult to attain.
“I thought that everyone would be really accepting, but due to being pregnant I actually missed out on selling a few properties because people thought I wouldn’t come back to the industry, which was quite disappointing," she explained.
“In the last two months of my pregnancy, I actually ran out of properties to sell. The ones I previously listed had sold.
"Due to that, I will slide down the top fee generator list, but I’m determined to get back up there. We [women] are definitely not on the equal path just yet.”
Nevertheless, Ms Rutherford was grateful for the support she received from the Place directors. The company’s flexibility and understanding ensured that Ms Rutherford did not need to take maternity leave.
According to Ms Rutherford, the advantage of real estate for women is in allowing them to balance listing, selling and supporting clients along with having a family.
“You can pick your hours,” she said. “So for me, I work in the morning and do all of my active face-to-face appointments then come home, do all of my phone calls in the afternoon while looking after my son and if I have evening appointments, I wait until the little boy has gone to bed,” she said.
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