According to the NAR 2018 Commercial Member Profile, only 30% of commercial real estate professionals are female. In 2015, CREW Network’s Benchmark Study Report on Women in Commercial Real Estate showed that, although management roles with direct reports were equally represented between men and women, 40% of men aspired to the C-suite, while only 28% of women wished the same for themselves. In fact, in the C-suite, women made almost 30% less than men did.
The Goldie Initiative
Rebecca Thomson of Thomson Real Estate Group hopes to change things for the better. According to Thomson, “We need more women in leadership to move our industry forward… It’s about seeking out and immersing ourselves in opportunities and proactively chasing the evolution that will shape our future as an industry.” Thomson is supported by the Goldie Initiative, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to elevating and advancing the careers of women in commercial real estate.
Since it was founded in 2007, the Goldie Initiative has assembled a professional community of women, known as Goldie Scholars, who have the academic and leadership potential to take the industry’s reins. Each Goldie Scholar is provided with mentoring and networking opportunities, as well as scholarship support for graduate-level study in business (with a real estate focus). Over time, this should translate to more women who not only aspire to the commercial real estate C-suite but who also transform its practices for the better.
Female CEO Natalia Karayaneva Is Shaping Real Estate Transactions
Beyond Thomson and the Goldie Initiative, there are plenty of other women who are seizing opportunities to shape the real estate industry, such as Propy founder and CEO Natalia Karayaneva. The Propy platform has already made history by recording the first-ever blockchain-based real estate transaction in several jurisdictions, including the United States and Japan. The platform streamlines the purchase process, breaks down international barriers, lowers costs for consumers and investors, and increases the transparency and security of document storage.
