This International Women’s Day, URBN Playground’s co-founders reflect on the progress of women in real estate and the company’s efforts to support women in the industry, while celebrating the strong, accomplished women making a difference at URBN Playground.

The state of women in real estate

According to a 2019 report by Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), women make up a sizable percentage of the commercial real estate workforce in the US. They hold 54 percent of mid-level and senior positions in the industry. 

However, as we look further up the ladder, that percentage dips to just 27 percent for the ranks of SVP, managing director, and partner level positions. In C-suite positions, women only account for 9 percent of such roles. 

In another study by the Urban Land Institute’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, women make up 25 percent of the membership of the real estate and land use organization. But they only account for 14 percent of its CEOs.

This gender gap starts even before women enter the workforce. Approximately 73 percent of real estate related degrees (undergraduate and graduate) are obtained by men. 

Similar to other industries, women account for over half of the overall workforce, but hold lower-level, administrative and clerical roles. Meanwhile, their higher-educated male peers receive promotions and growth opportunities that ultimately translate into the gender wage gap we see today. 

Women in commercial real estate (CRE) earn 23.3 percent less than men. This is higher than the US national average gender wage gap of 18 percent. 

“Overall, women are underrepresented in our field and the onus to level this playing field and open doors is on the leadership of the industry at every level,” says Jeremy Brutus, Co-Founder and President of URBN playground.

“Over the years, I have seen more women in management positions in commercial real estate,” adds Amy Blitz, Co-Founder of URBN Playground. “However, it's still considered a male-dominated industry, especially when it comes to ownership and real decision makers.”

The case for closing the gender gap 

Yet there are significant incentives for companies to close this wage and leadership gap.

According to the same CREW report mentioned above:

• Companies in the top 25 percent for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their industry medians.

• Innovation is six times higher at companies with the most equal workplace cultures.

• Changing board composition to include 30 percent female representation could add up to six percentage points to a company’s net margin.

“I think that having strong women leading our team at URBN is the reason we are successful!” adds Jeremy. 

“The statistics just underscore this. And many organizations are trying to change, but this is a systemic challenge. The important thing is coming together for awareness and setting initiatives to ensure change as an organization. This includes ensuring female staff are supported both at work and at home - and opening up doors for them at the very top levels. In this way, URBN Playground is ahead of most. We realize our obligation, we understand there is more to do and we take it seriously.”

We #ChooseToChallenge the status quo for women in CRE

At URBN Playground, in line with the 2021 theme for International Women’s Day, we continue to #ChooseToChallenge this status quo for women in CRE.

Since UBRN Playground was established by our co-founders, Jeremy and Amy, strong female leadership and a diverse team has been part and parcel of our culture and identity. 

Currently, our leadership team is 60 percent women, and that same percentage is seen across our staff overall. 

“We are proud to say our President is a woman, our Head of Marketing and Product is a woman, and our Chief Technology Officer is as well,” says Jeremy. “This also precipitates a flow throughout the organization and represents itself in our hiring, initiatives, and diversity. With regards to the gender gap seen on average in our industry, we can with confidence say that is not true in any way, shape or form, at URBN Playground.”

Recently, we nominated one of our female team members, Anacelle Bautista, for Real Estate Weekly’s annual 2020 “Rising Stars” list. Anacelle is not only a woman, but a person of color in an industry that is largely dominated by white men at the very top levels. 

“We’re incredibly proud to say that not only did Anacelle win, but aside from her win, she has been consistently delivering value to our team, overseeing our efforts to shift to digital in the pandemic, resulting in an amenity tech platform rolled out to more than 13,000 apartment units,” emphasizes Jeremy.

He adds another anecdote: “A recent hire expressed that she was struck by how open URBN was and by how diverse an organization we are, and that she had never worked with a firm with this level of diversity before.”

What’s next for URBN Playground in supporting women in the industry? Looking forward, Amy explains, “I'd love to be able to offer leadership/management development opportunities to all of our employees so they can continue to grow with us. Currently, I hope that our junior employees who see me as the co-owner and observe our women-dominated leader team in action will feel inspired in their own careers, to chart new paths that go beyond the status quo.”

If you are interested to work with or for a company that is making a difference in the real estate industry by championing diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level, visit our website to learn more about what we offer, and get in touch with us.