LAWRENCE, KS—Barriers to career advancement, including gender bias, still stand in the way of women in the industry, according to a white paper released by Commercial Real Estate Women Network. Among other findings, it found that 65% of CRE professionals surveyed have either seen or experienced gender bias against women in the workplace over the past five years, while 55% of respondents agreed that such bias extends outside of the workplace.

CREW Network's 10th annual white paper, Closing the Gap: Addressing Gender Bias and Other Barriers for Women in Commercial Real Estate takes a closer look at what women consider the main barriers to success in the industry. Among them are the lack of a company mentor/sponsor, the lack of promotion opportunity and gender discrimination/bias.

“We know that bias is a major barrier for women in our industry, and our eye-opening findings demonstrate the critical need to work together to achieve gender parity—not in 100 years, but in the very near future,” says CREW Network CEO Gail S. Ayers. “We are looking to industry leaders to take action, and CREW Network remains committed to supporting the industry as it makes this change.”

A total of 1,019 industry members, men as well as women, participated in the survey that served as the basis for the white paper. Along with exploring the societal drivers that have created, and in many cases perpetuate, roadblocks for women in CRE, the white paper also draws upon comments from survey participants.

“In the brokerage world, women tend to have to 'play in the boys' club' if they want to get ahead and make it to the top levels,” one respondent observed. “It is also difficult for a young woman to be mentored by an older male, as this type of relationship is easily misconstrued and viewed as inappropriate.”

CREW Network's 2015 industry benchmark study identified an “aspiration gap” among women in CRE—with 28% of women aspiring to the C-Suite, compared to 40% of men—and a compensation gap averaging 23.3%. The white paper identifies some of the reasons for these gaps: 32% of respondents believe the lack of support for women in the C-Suite and/or at home is the #1 reason for the aspiration gap, while 26% responded that women believe being in the C-Suite will adversely affect their commitments and responsibilities outside of work.

In terms of the compensation gap between men and women in CRE, 62% of respondents believe that if employers were required to share compensation information, industry pay would be more equitable. Furthermore, 43% said that their company has a written diversity/inclusion policy, while 29% were unsure.

Making it a priority to mentor and sponsor women is among the actions the white paper recommends to address the imbalance. Others include confronting bias directly and supporting women in the workplace.

The white paper was written by the 2016 CREW Network Industry Research Committee. It was made possible by the support of CBRE, industry research premier underwriter; and Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR, associate underwriter.

Instant Insights /

CREW on Gender Bias and What to Do About It

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