Men dominate the jobs that start with “chief” or end with “VP,” and according to CREW Network, the income gap between men and women in the industry is 23.3%. In the C-suite it is worse. At Bisnow, we are proud that more than half of our employees are women, yet we struggle to diversify our senior ranks, and fill our event panels each year, with more women. As evidenced by the scores of women who now sit at the heads of boardroom tables, career trajectories for women have improved, but the oft-whispered grievance that it's just one big “old boys' club” survives. A palpable sense of disrespect, fear and frustration persists as women continue to grapple with wage disparity, sexism, upward mobility and sexual harassment. Some women feel left out, left behind and, at times, voiceless. 

Bisnow reached out to dozens of women from New York, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas — and everywhere in between — and granted them anonymity to answer one question: What is it really like to be a woman in this industry? These are the voices of 22 of the most powerful women in U.S. commercial real estate. They have developed, financed, designed and built some of the biggest properties in North America — and they have something to say.

Read the women's remarks here.