| In last week’s issue of Banker & Tradesman, commercial real estate reporter Steve Adams found a larger story than expected when he began to investigate the lack of diversity in the commercial real estate industry. Last week’s issue focused on the causes of and solutions to a lack of minority representation in the commonwealth’s development community; this week concludes with the challenges faced by women.
According to industry insiders, the lack of minorities and women in CRE is down to neglect, passive recruitment and a long-term reliance on tightly knit social circles, all of which very effectively serve to bar entrance to outsiders. (That’s pretty much the point of a tightly knit social circle.) As noted in this space last week, the issue is cyclical, and representation matters.
It’s no secret that the industry lacks for diversity of all kinds – a CRE networking event is a sea of white, bald and bearded heads atop dark suits and tasteful ties – but to its credit, the industry has acknowledged that the problem exists. Even more importantly, it has lately undertaken steps to address it. It took many generations to create this; here’s hoping it doesn’t take as many to unravel it.
Internships, mentoring and intentional inclusion are all a good start to adding some much-needed variety of personnel to those networking events, but if that’s all that happens, many more generations will go by before parity is achieved.
Affirmative action, quotas and tokenism don’t address the systemic and cyclical nature of the problem – nor do they address the deepest sources of the challenges faced by women and minorities.
The truth is that “lacking diversity” is just a nice way of saying “discriminatory” – and from there it’s a short hop to even uglier words, like “racism” and “misogyny” – words that no member of the CRE industry would identify with, but must nonetheless be examined.
Because the truth is that for every woman who attempts to “lean in,” there are dozens more who are told they are too aggressive. For every woman who successfully negotiates a pay raise, there are dozens more who are passed over for promotion in favor of a less-experienced male colleague. For every woman whose project pitch is approved, there dozens more who watch others take credit for their innovations and ideas.
The truth is, discrimination – overt and subtle – exists in all forms, across all industries, and particularly at the top level. Until the others seated at the table and in the meeting rooms recognize what they are doing, have done and continue to do, women and minorities will continue to be heard less. They will receive less credit, less pay, less opportunity for advancement. The industry will be lessened by their inability to fully contribute.
It is reprehensible to expect women and minorities to solve this puzzle of their own discrimination. As they strive to be heard, those already in the room must recognize that the struggle is indeed real – and open their ears and eyes to real and lasting solutions.
