This is an HTML version of an article that ran in the July/August 2013 issue of Real Estate Forum. To see the original story, click here.

Women have certainly come a long way in commercial real estate. Take a look at major industry events, or within CRE offices around the country, and it's evident that the sector has become more diverse. Yet as many advances have been made, there's still more to be done to achieve full equality. The good news is the next generation of leadership, along with the new classes coming into the business, has it in their hands to change the status quo.

Commercial real estate is a great profession for women, and women tend to be very good at it, says Gail S. Ayers, president and CEO of the CREW Network. Still, she adds, “While you're seeing more women in the top levels of commercial real estate, you're still not seeing anything close to the levels that would make you think that the industry is ready for women at the top-level decision-making range. I think that's where you'll see the next 10 years' progress. When that happens, you'll see women at all levels in all sectors of the industry.”

CREW surveys the industry on gender equity every five years. Its latest survey, conducted in 2010, polled 2,901 individuals in 2010, up from 1,834 in 2005. The split between women and men remained similar, with women comprising 69% and 64% of the respondents, respectively.

Between 2005 and 2010, those polled reported a 7% increase in the number of women in their organizations, with the gains concentrated in those with 20-plus years and less than five years of work experience. Women also seem to be better compensated in the latest survey versus the prior five years. Whereas only 8% of women surveyed in 2005 earned between $100,000 and $250,000, by 2010 that figure had increased to 11%, while the percentage of men in the same compensation category had decreased from 34% to 31%. These findings, combined with Census data, indicate that women earned 82.8% of the median weekly wage of men in 2009, which is the highest ever recorded, up from 76.1% just a decade earlier.

Still, CREW reports that the survey results debunk the theory that women's lower salaries are due to their lack of experience or more recent entry into commercial real estate. Both the 2005 and 2010 surveys found a gap in earnings by gender, especially among those earning less than $75,000 and more than $250,000, even when controlling for age and years of experience. 

“It is interesting to note that while women are entering the industry in greater numbers than men and at similar rates of compensation, soon after entry the compensation gap widens,” CREW researchers write. “Men earn more than women in the industry almost from the beginning of their careers.”

When the organization did its first study 10 years ago, Ayers notes that it was shocking to find out that most of the women surveyed thought they were getting paid the exact same as their male counterparts. In reality, there was 20-25% gender disparity in pay, depending on the specialization. The fact that women's salaries run 10-20% behind men's, she says, “is pretty shocking in today's era, when you'd really expect everyone would be paid according to their abilities and experience.”

It isn't unique to CRE, of course, and a lot of the reason behind it, studies show, is because women tend not to negotiate as hard going into a job. “When I talk to CEOs and HR people, they'll often say, 'If someone doesn't ask you for a salary, who is going to go out there and make it happen?” says Ayers. “I encourage women to negotiate and know what salaries are in their fields.”

When asked to rate significant barriers to career advancement, both men and women indicated the lack of promotion opportunity as the greatest challenge in 2010. All respondents, though, said smart, hard work leads to success, which is also influenced by effective negotiation skills, business development/revenue generation and a relationship with an internal mentor. Interestingly, women placed more importance on mentorship as a key to future success.

That's why CREW puts as much emphasis on mentoring as it does on its scholarships. “A CREW scholarship comes with mentoring, and it's usually a CREW member who's in the same specialty as the mentee,” says Ayers. “Having someone to guide them helps young women move more quickly up through the industry.”

And more women leaders are willing to mentor the next generation of leaders. In the organization's C-Suite Program, “we identify women who are ready to enter the C-suite. They're looking for mentors, women who are already in the C-suite. We usually identify more mentors than mentees.”

While respondents reported that men hold about 70% of senior-level positions, more people are reporting to female managers. Particularly, CREW found a “remarkable 62% of female managers' direct reports were women, whereas only 45% of direct reports to male managers were women.” 

With more women in management-level positions, it's reasonable to assume the younger generation of workers will bring with them a different set of priorities. In fact, the trend is already evident, as CREW found when it asked survey respondents about ideal job characteristics. In terms of top five qualities they feel are “most important” in their careers, both women and men listed job enjoyment, challenging job and co-worker respect. But while maximizing earnings potential and career achievement rounded out women's lists, men gave importance to level of decision making and time for family—indicating that perhaps men seek a work-life balance as women did in prior years.

To a certain extent, says Ayers, the more men who put importance on work/family balance, “the more possible it would be that this won't be seen as a women's issue.”

There's also a greater number of younger, more diverse people entering the industry. The CREW data show that between 2005 and 2010, the percentage of all survey respondents with five or fewer years of experience in commercial real estate jumped from 13% to 17%. There are also more women going into once male-dominated fields, such as development/development services and financial/professional services.

A look at some of the top commercial real estate Master's programs in the country will illustrate those findings. Rosemary Scanlon, divisional dean of the Schack Institute of Real Estate at New York University, says she's seen her classes grow both in size and diversity over the past several years.

Since seeing off its first class in 1990, the program, which offered the first Master's in Real Estate in New York City, has amassed well over 3,000 alumni around the world. Its students tend to be existing practitioners, with some of the biggest names in real estate among them. Since its inception, the program has seen its class numbers go up from 25 or 30 in 1990 to about 200 in 2005, to around 550 as of this past spring. Women accounted for about a quarter of the student body this semester, and will make up 28% of the fall class. “What's interesting,” adds Scanlon, “is that 42% of my international students are women.” And more women are going into non-traditional fields, such as development and construction management, she adds. 

It's a major difference for Scanlon, who started her career as an economist for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1969. Back then, there were few women in property-related fields, and the Port Authority itself was “a very male environment,” she says. Early in her career, Scanlon tells of publishing her first reports under her initials, simply so they could be read more broadly.

In short, most women in positions of success urge others of their gender to speak up for themselves and take risks. As Ayers puts it, “Much of life is a risk. CRE is a business that encourages and rewards appropriate risk-taking. Networking is also a risk. Women aren't particularly comfortable with self-promotion, but it's necessary.”

However, she reminds, “Women are not victims. We are participants in our own destiny. We at CREW continue to urge women to step up, but understand that there is discrimination in many fields today. We have a smaller percentage of women in the executive levels, and that's not by accident. We have work to do.”