Let’s take the time to acknowledge women’s achievements all over the world for International Women’s Day. This year on March 8 let’s recognize the constant challenge we women face in our quest for gender equality. Although women have come a long way in the real estate industry there is still much work ahead of us.
It is true that historically women have been in real estate almost since the industry’s inception in 1794, however, the National Association of Realtors were entirely male until 1910 when the first women joined. In 1938 female agents started their own Women’s Council of Realtors as a response to being excluded from other real estate boards. By 1950 most real estate boards dropped gender restrictions.
According to the NAR (2016), the majority of Realtors, about 62 percent are women. Although women may dominate the real estate industry (except the commercial). They don’t occupy as many executive-level positions as men. Despite these challenges, women from all backgrounds continue to carve out a strong presence in the real estate industry.