‘Women in Rental’ initiative launched by ERA at IRE show

The European Rental Association (ERA) launched its ‘Women in Rental’ initiative on 3 June at the International Rental Exhibition (IRE) in Maastricht with an event held on the ERA’s stand.

The initiative is part of a wider project for the ERA to promote rental and careers in the rental sector, which will include the creation of a new People committee.

Carole Bachmann, ERA’s secretary general, speaking at the launch, said; “It’s great to see a lot of women on the stand, but it’s also very nice to see a lot of men, because we don’t want this initiative to be a club of women, but we really want to be inclusive and to have everyone involved in this initiative.

Carole Bachmann, right, secretary general of the European Rental Association (ERA), with Daniela Niederstätter at the launch of the Women in Rental initiative in Maastricht. (Photo: KHL Group)

“It’s not only about attracting women it’s about also making sure that they stay once they are in our companies.”

She said women were under-represented in the industry; “Are we looking at the right talent pools? This is the question we want to address with this Women in Rental initiative.

“It’s not a one-off initiative, it’s part of all the work we are doing on people, skills and the future of the industry. And it’s also part of our new People committee that we are now creating.”

The meeting was held immediately following IPAF’s Women in Access breakfast meeting. IPAF’s project has been running for more than three years – the initial push was given by IPAF’s then-president Karin Godenhielm – and has continued as a space for women to network and share their experiences.

Artwork promotes debate

ERA’s plan had been to hold the launch event at the ‘Girls Wanted’ container - an artwork designed to promote discussion around gender balance and diversity in workplaces – but bad weather prompted a move inside.

The container artwork is by Austria-based artist Lena Lapschina, and it was Daniela Niederstätter, a director of Italian rental company Niederstatter AG, who saw its potential to be used at rental industry events to stimulate discussion around the participation of women in the business.

Vincent Albasini (Alayan), Daniela Niederstätter (Niederstätter AG) and Carole Bachmann (ERA) at the Girls Wanted artwork at the APEX show. (Image: ERA / Maurice Vinken / kleurstof.eu)

Speaking at the launch event, Niederstätter – who later that day won the ‘Rental Person of the Year’ award at the European Rental Awards – said the container initiative began when the artist contacted her.

“Lena said, this message should be about opening the traditional male dominated spaces to rethink role models. And in the end, it’s always to think about role models. We should not only talk about women, we should talk about generations and we should talk about cultures.”

Niederstätter said her own company’s employee group was dominated by local people, but she wanted to change that; “We need people from outside because we need different perspectives. So, this project is all about talent over gender.

“We should create something where talent is more important than gender or culture or the other biases that we have. With this project, we started to talk about bias and to be conscious about bias.

“We are super-happy that we have ambassadors like ERA or Alayan who supported it.”

A message of support

The container was transported to Maastricht with the help of rental company Alayan, which sponsored the initiative.

Alayan’s CEO, Vincent Albasini, also speaking in Maastricht, said; “I’m really happy to see all of you because this initiative from the ERA and with Daniela highlights the vision of the future.

The Women in Rental launch at the IRE exhibition in Maastricht. (Photo: ERA / Maurice Vinken / kleurstof.eu)

“I started my career in rental 25 years ago and at that time we didn’t talk about woman in rental, for sure, even for people not coming from technical backgrounds. And today we are talking about customer experience, we are talking about woman, we are talking about talent.

“And I think that is the message that as Alayan we want to support and to transmit to the new generation.”

ERA members who are interested in participating in the new People committee, or the Women in Rental initiative, should contact ERA directly through the association’s website: www.erarental.org.