In the summer of 2020, a wave of civil rights protests took off in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Protesters were marching not only against police brutality, they were also demanding a more equal and inclusive world—and commercial real estate leaders heeded the call. Companies have since committed to diversity, launching internal DEI platforms and setting benchmarks to achieve goals, not just talk about them.

For women, the topic of diversity in the commercial real estate industry has been a decades-long conversation, and in that time a lot has changed. Women now have a seat at the table, but female leaders agree that there is still work to be done to achieve true gender diversity. We talked to some of those leaders to find out how far the industry has come, the issues that still need to be addressed and how industry leaders are responding.