Glass Ceiling and Sticky Floor?

In the last 5 years, since CREW’s 2005 benchmark study, “Women in Commercial Real Estate”, women’s advancement to top positions (CEO, CFO, COO, board member) in commercial real estate had stagnated, or even regressed slightly. CREW’s new white paper, “Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor – The State of Women’s Advancement in Commercial Real Estate”, examines the reasons why and offers suggestions to reverse the progress. (http://www.crewnetwork.org/RESOURCES/WhitePaper_GlassCeiling_Dec09.pdf )

Some of the interesting observations found in the paper:

• Women leaders are perceived as competent or likeable, but rarely both.
• While recent female graduates entering the industry receive 89% of the compensation their male counterparts receive, as women approach age 35 and over receive only 75% of the compensation of their male counterparts..
• Both women and men were shown to perceive “taking care” behaviors as the defining qualities of women leaders, and “taking charge” behaviors as the defining qualities of men leaders.
• In Fortune 500 companies, those with the highest representation of women board directors and women corporate officers, on average, achieve higher financial performance than those with the lowest.
• Generally, women are perceived as working fewer hours than men. Studies also show that women are generally more productive than men while working.