We took out time to highlight the topic of women in real estate and to discuss how gender impacts pay. Women have been in the real estate industry from the outset. The National Association of REALTORS® had its first woman realtor in 1910. Female agents established the Women’s Council of Realtors as a parallel organization in 1938, after major real estate boards singled them out. Most real estate boards removed gender barriers in the early 1950s. According to the NAR 2017 Membership Profile, 63% of realtors are women. In the NAR as a whole, women make up:
- 56% of licensed brokers
- 66% of sales agent licensees
- 63% of full-time sales agents
- 69% of part-time sales agents
Lack of Women in Leadership Roles
Women are in the real estate industry, but they do not occupy many of the managerial positions. According to an Urban Land Institutes 2015 survey, women make up 25% of the members of most land use and real estate organizations. Additionally, they make up only about 14% of the managerial positions.
Pay Inequity in High-Level Positions
Pay inequality still exists. One woman in real estate is Tami Bonnell, the CEO of EXIT Realty. She oversees over 30,000 agents and 600 offices. Bonnell picks the best agents only, regardless of gender; as a result, women make up about 75% of the company’s management.
Bonnell still recalls that she was turned down for a position because the other man had a family to support; Bonnell says that she had one, too. It seems like it would only be fair for women to claim fair payments, after they have gone through same process of learning what men in similar positions learned.
Advantages for Women in Real Estate
Being a woman in real estate comes with its advantages, especially when it comes to working with female homebuyers. Certain offices have also been set aside for the female real estate agents in the industry, to avoid discrimination and inequity at large.
There is still a bright future ahead for women in real estate. For women who like to meet clients, to show properties, and to help people, real estate is a great industry to build a career.
