The women leading Chicago’s commercial real estate are looking to pave a path forward for future women to climb up the ranks in an industry overwhelmingly represented by men at the top levels. 

A McKinsey Women in the Workplace report found that for every 100 men who received their first promotion to manager in 2024, only 81 women were promoted, leading to fewer women in executive roles.

The downstream effects of the initial gap in promotions are evident in Bisnow’s own reported data: The C-suites of the 100 CRE companies Bisnow investigated in its latest annual DEI series have 1,195 executives, of which 27.2% are women. The companies have 764 board members that are publicly listed, of which 31.8% are women. 

Read more about Chicago women’s efforts to increase representation at the top of CRE.

— Ryan Wangman

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