“Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to health care, to education and public policy – we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But when we exclude half of humanity (women) from the data, we get a distorted picture.”
This is the core message of Caroline Criado-Perez’s book Invisible Women. It reveals how gender biases in data and design leave women overlooked. How does this play out in the U.S. real estate industry?
Real estate is an interesting case: women can be very visible in numbers – in fact, the field is dominated by female agents – yet there are still ways in which women’s experiences are “invisible” in the system.
In this post, we’ll explore the landscape for women in real estate, across residential and commercial sectors, and discuss how gender data gaps and systemic biases affect everything from safety and technology to work-life balance and career advancement. We’ll highlight facts and real examples where possible, and end on a hopeful note about closing these gaps.
Women by the Numbers: Leading the Field, But Not Everywhere
First, some good news: women have become a driving force in real estate. As of recent years, about two-thirds of all Realtors are women aceableagent.com.
In residential brokerage, women outnumber men – according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), roughly 65–66% of U.S. residential agents are female realtor.com bankrate.com.
This is a dramatic change from the past – NAR’s membership was nearly 100% male up until the mid-20th century realtor.com. Today, women also thrive in related roles like property management and interior design.
However, when we look at other areas of real estate, a different picture emerges. In commercial real estate (think office buildings, retail centers, large developments), women remain underrepresented. Only about 36.7% of the commercial real estate workforce is female crewnetwork.org – a figure that has barely budged in 15 years.
The higher up you go, the thinner that presence becomes: women hold just 9% of C-suite positions in commercial real estate crewnetwork.org. Even in the residential world, women are less visible in top leadership of big brokerages and development companies.
The gender data gap in these areas is clear – if you only looked at overall agent numbers, you’d miss the fact that women are scarce in certain specialties and executive roles.
Why does this matter? Because different segments of the industry have different cultures, pay scales, and power structures. Residential real estate is often more flexible and entrepreneur-friendly (appealing to many women, as we’ll discuss), whereas commercial real estate has been a traditionally male-dominated “old boys’ club.”
When women aren’t proportionally represented, their perspectives and needs may not be fully addressed – whether it’s in networking opportunities, mentorship, or workplace policies.
By collecting and acknowledging data on these disparities, the industry can start to ask why they persist. For example, recognizing that only 1 in 10 top executives are women crewnetwork.org forces a conversation about barriers to advancement.
It’s a classic case of what Criado-Perez calls “the gender data gap” – if we don’t see the numbers, we don’t see the problem.
Fortunately, awareness is rising, and initiatives to support women in all corners of real estate are underway (more on that in our conclusion).
Safety on the Job: An Unequal Burden
One area where the experience of women in real estate can differ significantly from that of men is personal safety. Real estate agents often work alone – they meet new clients, host open houses, or show properties in vacant homes. This can, unfortunately, put agents, especially female agents, in vulnerable situations.
There have been tragic, high-profile cases in the U.S. of female Realtors being attacked during a showing or open house, which shocked the industry into recognizing a long-overlooked safety gap. For example, the 2014 murder of an Arkansas real estate agent during a home showing made national news and spurred many brokerages to ramp up safety protocols for agents.
Data – where it’s collected – shows that women consistently report higher rates of feeling unsafe on the job compared to their male counterparts. In NAR safety surveys, a large share of female agents say they carry pepper spray, tasers, or use smartphone safety apps when meeting new clients, whereas many male agents don’t feel the need to take those precautions.
Women often have to vet clients more rigorously or implement the “buddy system” (having a colleague on call or accompanying them) for evening showings. These extra layers of caution are a response to real risks that historically weren’t formally tracked or addressed by brokerages – an example of a concern that was once invisible in the data and training.
The industry is responding. Realtor associations now host safety courses, and technology has stepped in with solutions like SafeShowings and other apps that automatically alert an emergency contact if an agent fails to check-in. Some brokerages have policies that no agent (of any gender) should host an open house alone.
These changes stem from acknowledging a gendered reality: women face unique safety challenges in real estate. By gathering data on incidents and near-misses, and sharing stories, the community has started to normalize precautions rather than treating them as individual paranoia.
In the spirit of Invisible Women, making this issue visible through data and dialogue is leading to safer working conditions for everyone.
Technology and the Gender Data Gap
Real estate is becoming ever more tech-driven – from mobile CRM apps and electronic lockboxes to virtual tour software. But have these tools been designed with women’s needs in mind?
Criado-Perez’s research in Invisible Women highlights many cases of technology (and product design in general) that unwittingly default to male users. In real estate, there are subtle examples of this “one-size-fits-men” problem.
Personal Tech Gear
Consider that the average smartphone size is often too large for many women’s hands, or that voice recognition AI historically struggled with higher-pitched voices.
A female agent trying to use her phone one-handed while juggling keys and a purse might find it literally a stretch – a small inconvenience that reflects a bigger issue of design bias.
Safety Devices
Until recently, most lockboxes and alarm systems didn’t incorporate features with an agent’s personal safety in mind. Now, driven by demand (largely from female agents), some lockbox apps let you send your location to colleagues when you go to a showing, addressing a need that wasn’t originally part of the tech spec.
Vehicle Safety
Real estate agents spend countless hours driving clients to properties. Here’s a startling connection: Invisible Women notes that women are significantly more likely to be injured in car crashes because car safety testing uses male crash dummies by default. That means the female body was “invisible” in car design data for decades.
For a female Realtor who’s on the road daily, this data gap isn’t abstract – it can impact her physical safety. Thankfully, car manufacturers and regulators have started to incorporate female crash test dummies and data, but it shows how a lack of inclusive data can directly affect women’s lives in any profession.
The broader point is that when new technology enters real estate, it’s important to ask: was diverse user data considered in its development? Whether it’s a property search app, a mapping tool, or even the ergonomics of the “For Sale” signs we lug around, paying attention to women’s feedback can reveal usability or safety issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The good news is that as more women hold influential roles in the tech side of real estate (PropTech startups, IT departments of brokerages, etc.), these considerations are more likely to be baked in from the start. In the meantime, continuing to highlight where a tool doesn’t work well for a subset of agents is exactly how we make those needs visible.
Work-Life Balance: Flexibility vs. Burnout
Real estate is often touted as a flexible career – you can set your own schedule, work from home, be your own boss. This flexibility has attracted many women, particularly mothers, to the field. In fact, a survey of hundreds of women in real estate found a striking 94% were also moms aceableagent.com.
The ability to arrange work around family commitments is a huge draw. You might skip the 9-to-5 office grind and be available for school pickups, then schedule client meetings in the evenings or weekends. Many women thrive as real estate agents precisely because they can achieve a better work-life integration than in other jobs – an insight supported by data on why women choose this career.
However, the flip side of that flexibility can be blurry boundaries and pressure to always be “on.” Clients expect agents to answer calls at night and attend weekend showings; the housing market doesn’t rest, and neither do moms.
Women in real estate often walk a tightrope between clients and family. The gender data gap here is more about understanding how those demands affect women. For example, do female agents end up working fewer hours or taking more career breaks due to childcare? Do they perhaps gravitate toward certain niches (like part-time roles or home-based brokerage setups) to accommodate their families?
These are questions that historically haven’t been well-tracked, but they’re important. If brokerage firms had data on how, say, maternity leave (or lack thereof, since most agents are independent contractors) impacts women’s long-term earnings or retention in the field, they might develop better support systems.
On the ground, many women agents create informal support networks – they team up to cover for each other during maternity leave or childcare emergencies. Organizations like the Women’s Council of REALTORS® also provide mentorship and community that can help balance these challenges.
The industry is slowly recognizing that supporting work-life balance isn’t just a personal issue; it’s key to keeping top talent. As one example, some brokerages now offer access to group healthcare or childcare referral programs for their agents – benefits traditionally not available to independent contractors.
The conversation about work-life balance in real estate, seen through a gender lens, is about making the invisible juggling act visible and valued. When we acknowledge that most agents are women and many are mothers, policies and cultural expectations can evolve to be more realistic and compassionate.
Financial and Career Gaps: Unequal Rewards
Do women in real estate make as much money as men? It’s a complex question. On one hand, residential real estate is a commission-based, entrepreneurial business – theoretically, anyone can succeed regardless of gender.
And indeed, many women have reached the top echelons of sales performance. But when we aggregate data, some gaps emerge.
Income and Pay Disparity
Studies have found that female agents, on average, earn less than male agents. In the commercial sector, the gap is especially stark. In 2020, a benchmark study by the CREW Network found women in commercial real estate earned 10% less base salary than men on average – and a whopping 55.9% less in commission and bonus income crewnetwork.org.
That latter number is a jaw-dropping difference, suggesting that women aren’t getting the same opportunities at the big deals or are facing biases in commission splits.
While residential brokerage isn’t directly the same as commercial, one might ask: do female residential agents perhaps get funneled into lower-price markets or struggle to break into the luxury tier dominated by men?
Promotion and Leadership
As mentioned earlier, women are underrepresented in executive roles. It’s not that women don’t own brokerages – in fact, many small and mid-size real estate firms are owned or managed by women, and the number of female broker-owners has been growing (up 6% in recent years) realtor.com.
Yet, at the largest corporate brokerages or in developer companies, few women make it to the very top. This can affect mentorship and sponsorship opportunities for upcoming women. If the people handing out prime leads or territory are all men, there’s potential (conscious or not) for boys’ network favoritism.
Systemic bias can also appear in how clients perceive agents; for instance, a corporate client might assume a male commercial broker is more experienced for a big deal, or a couple might unconsciously trust financial details more to a male agent while expecting a female agent to focus on “staging” and aesthetics. These stereotypes, while fading, can influence who gets what business.
Addressing these financial and career gaps requires shining a light on them. Thanks to efforts by industry groups, we have started to see that light. The CREW Network’s research quantifies the pay gap and is prompting companies to examine their practices.
Discussions at real estate conferences now frequently include sessions on diversity, equal pay, and elevating women into leadership. By collecting data (e.g., firms tracking promotion rates by gender, or franchises analyzing the performance of offices led by women vs. men), the industry can challenge any assumptions that might be holding women back. In essence, making these inequalities visible is the first step to closing them.
Moving Forward: Empowering Women and Closing the Gaps
The picture is not all gloomy – far from it. Women in real estate have achieved tremendous success and continue to break new ground. The key going forward is to use awareness and data (the lessons of Invisible Women) to ensure that women are not just present in large numbers, but equally supported, heard, and rewarded in every facet of the industry.
There are encouraging signs. For example, in 2019 NAR partnered with the Women’s Council of REALTORS® to launch the “Supporting Women of Real Estate” grant program, aimed at helping women advance into leadership roles realtor.com.
Major brokerage firms have started internal networks and mentorship programs – Coldwell Banker, as one instance, created monthly “Women in Leadership” forums and even a podcast celebrating women in the business realtor.com.
These initiatives validate women’s contributions and tackle the once-invisible issues (like the need for mentorship or the challenges of re-entering work after a break).
It’s also powerful to see role models in the field. Today, there are women CEOs of real estate companies, successful female investor-developers, and top-producing agents in luxury markets – their stories inspire change.
Mary Lee Blaylock, CEO of a major real estate company in California, reflected on her journey: when she started out, seeing a woman at the top was an anomaly, but “now it is celebrated more than ever… The opportunities for women today are real.” realtor.com. This quote captures a hopeful trajectory.
The experiences of women in real estate underscore why it’s important to mind the gaps – whether data gaps or opportunity gaps. Women have proven that they belong in every part of this industry.
By continuing to collect data, speak up about biases, and implement inclusive policies, we can ensure that women are not invisible to the system that they help power. After all, when women thrive, the real estate industry as a whole thrives – homes get sold, companies grow, and communities benefit.
Let’s celebrate how far we’ve come, acknowledge what still needs fixing, and support the incredible women of real estate as they build their careers and our communities.
In the spirit of Invisible Women, making the unseen seen, we can create a more equitable and empowering field for the next generation of women (and men) in real estate.