‘A Generational Setback’: The Pandemic Marked A Painful Loss Of Progress For Women
This piece is part of a package of articles examining the impact the pandemic had on women in commercial real estate. To see the rest of the package, click here.
Twenty-three-year-old Taylor Stoute had been working as a tenant rep for just over a year when she decided to leave commercial real estate behind. It wasn’t about money — Stoute was a top performer at Houston-based brokerage firm Oxford Partners. But after months of working on her own with little guidance from her mentor, she had an epiphany.
“I realized I hated that work environment because I wanted to be a part of a team where there is accountability and obligation, and a want and need to help each other,” she said. “And there was none of that at my firm.”
Stoute is among a league of women who parted ways with the industry during the pandemic. Some left of their own accord, while others were forced out. Regardless of the reason, studies show the event was a setback for women in an industry historically dominated by men. In a July 2021 survey conducted by the Commercial Real Estate Women Network, 38% of respondents said the pandemic stalled progress for female employees, while 32% said it derailed progress altogether.
Casey Jahn, Nest Seekers International’s commercial division director in Beverly Hills, pointed to the CREW study as well as a 2021 report from McKinsey & Co. that found 1 in 3 women was considering taking a temporary step back from her career or leaving the workforce entirely as a result of the pandemic.
"The pandemic is going to be a generational setback for women in the workplace," said Jahn, who has spent more than a decade as a broker specializing in retail.
Female departures from the commercial real estate industry are a microcosm of what is unfolding on a global scale. According to Oxfam International, 64 million female-held jobs were lost in 2020. This represents 5% of the total jobs held by women compared to a 3.9% loss among jobs held by men.
One in three women say they have considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce in 2021, the annual Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey and LeanIn Organization found. That’s an increase from 1 in 4 who said they were considering that option in the first few months into the pandemic.
Covid-19 was damaging for women in many ways, personally and financially. According to economist Michael Madowitz of the Center for American Progress on behalf of Newsweek, the pandemic could cost the average American woman nearly $600K in lifetime income, with many missing out on promotions, training or job opportunities during the crisis.
Mia Ureña, a 24-year-old associate with Weitzman in Dallas, said the pandemic deprived her of the training and support she needed when she first joined The Woodmont Co., a boutique brokerage firm in Fort Worth, in August 2020. Working remotely amid a prolonged suspension of in-person meetings and events meant Ureña had to rely entirely on Zoom.
“When you first start out at a job or in a new industry, that’s kind of your time to start reaching out to people, going to coffee and introducing yourself,” she said. “I definitely feel like, since I did start during the pandemic, I was kind of robbed of that opportunity … I definitely think that hurt me.”
According to The CREW Network’s survey, one of the top barriers to success in commercial real estate is a lack of a company mentor or sponsor. Having just joined the industry, Stoute said she craved in-person guidance from her mentor. But he worked almost exclusively from home, and Stoute said the firm’s 100%-commission structure meant he had little vested interest in her success.
“He was in his later years of commercial real estate, so he really was doing amazing but had no buy-in for me,” she said. “He was making money off my deals, but he was making so much money off his own deals … There was no want or need to help me.”
It wasn’t just the rookies who felt ill-equipped to do their jobs. Many senior brokers said they also had a hard time winning the business of new clients. According to the CREW Network’s survey, 54% of respondents said they missed out on deals as a result of the pandemic.
“There were several large deals I had that all died because of various reasons,” said Bre Brown, a vice president with JLL Austin who has more than nine years of experience as a broker. “We kind of have this expression that ‘time kills all deals.’”
Cutting ties with the industry crossed the minds of more experienced brokers, but many felt they had too much to lose. Caroline Leary, an agency leasing associate with JLL Dallas who had a baby at the beginning of the pandemic and now has another on the way, said even during her most difficult moments, the thought of leaving her nearly seven-year career was always short-lived.
“In brokerage, if you leave, it's kind of like a new car driving off the lot. You leave everything behind the moment you turn in your badge and step into your car,” she said. “Your portfolio and your client base is gone. If you come back to the industry, you're on the runway again. Sure, you have your network and your contacts, but you've lost all of your momentum. You have to start over.”
Despite these challenges, the pandemic also presented opportunities to confront the industry’s notorious “bro club” culture. Many women said they felt more empowered than ever to demand a seat at the table.
“[The pandemic] was a correction on all levels,” said Noreen Mehdi Weathers, an occupier adviser with CBRE in Dallas. “If we are going to talk about flexibility, what else do women want? They want to have a seat at the table. They want to have a voice. If we are going to start asking for the things that we need, that’s part of it.”
Female representation in commercial real estate, especially at leadership levels, has always been lacking, but the makeup of some firms began to change pre-pandemic as companies threw their weight behind Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The murder of George Floyd in July 2020 accelerated these efforts in an unprecedented way, said Shicara Hollie Muhammad, a senior transaction manager who was seven years into her CRE career when she was hired at CBRE in October 2020.
“More companies or clients are demanding [diverse representation],” she said. “I wouldn’t say that people are losing their accounts or clients because of it, but they are definitely being held to a higher standard and needing to show that they do have diversity in their organization.”
Despite good intentions, CRE has a long way to go in achieving gender equality. According to the CREW Network, women made up about 37% of the industry in 2020, a percentage that has not changed much over the last 15 years. Women also continue to earn less than men. In 2020, the fixed salary gap between genders was 10.2%, which means that, on average, women make 90 cents for every dollar that men earn, according to CREW. For women of color, those gaps are even wider — Black women make 85 cents, Asian women make 86 and Hispanic/Latina women make 80 cents for every dollar that men earn.
More recent Bisnow analysis indicates the industry still has a long way to go to achieve racial and gender parity. Publicly traded CRE companies have so far led the way in terms of increases in diversity within the industry. According to a November 2021 report, the 26 commercial real estate-focused REITs in the S&P 500 had nearly doubled the number of board members of color compared to a year prior. The numbers were not nearly as dramatic for women. Eighty-three of the 272 board members — just over 30% — were women, up just four from the year before, though the number of women with “chief” in their titles rose from 24 to 33.
By contrast, the number of diverse and female executives at brokerage and development firms barely moved.
"Now more than ever, owners are coming out of the gate and saying they would love to see more women on leasing teams,” JLL’s Leary said. “And while adding a female representative to the team is a positive, it isn’t a silver bullet — I lost opportunities to all-male teams in 2021.”
