Plenty of Women at the Table—Until the Table Gets Smaller
While the industry has made progress, there is still a long way to go.
When I began my career in multifamily housing nearly forty years ago, women were already a strong presence in the leasing offices, property management teams, and regional leadership roles. From my earliest days, I called on and worked alongside smart, capable women who could fill a building, solve a crisis, lead a team, and manage a budget with the same ease they brought to welcoming new residents.
Yet as I advanced in my own career, moving from my first entry-level role into mid-management and then executive levels, I noticed something troubling: the higher I climbed, the fewer women I saw beside me (and as a supplier, across the table from me). The vibrant, female-driven workforce I knew at the property and regional levels seemed to disappear in the upper tiers of leadership. In its place was a far more male-dominated landscape—one that didn’t reflect the talent I knew was out there.
While I’ve seen progress in the decades since—more women at the table, more companies embracing the business case for diversity—the reality is that our industry still has a long way to go. And this isn’t just about women. True equity and inclusion must extend to people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and anyone historically shut out of decision-making spaces. It’s time we name this inversion gap for what it is and commit to closing it—not someday, but now.
The Pipeline Is Full. The Promotions Aren’t.
The numbers tell a story many of us already sense from lived experience. At the property level, women are not just present—they are the majority. Across the United States, roughly 60–62 percent of property managers are women, and in many markets, regional managers and directors are also predominantly female. On paper, this should mean the industry has a robust leadership pipeline.
