Careers for women in multifamily housing: The vibrant, female-driven workforce I knew at the property and regional levels seemed to disappear in the upper tiers of leadership.
By Judy Bellack
When I began my career in multifamily housing nearly 40 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 Robust. 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% 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.
But something happens as you climb the ladder. While women represent about 36–37% of the broader commercial real estate workforce, they make up only 9% of C-suite roles.
Some analyses report an even starker picture—just 1.3% of women in the C-suite, with over one-third of firms having no women in any senior executive positions at all. And for women who do make it to the top, the pay gap widens dramatically—from 9% less than men in entry-level roles to 33% less at the executive level.
In multifamily development leadership, the picture varies by market: In major metro areas, the share of women in top roles can be as low as 6% or as high as 23%—a sign that geography and local culture still heavily influence who gets the keys to leadership.
Clarifying the Concepts: Inequality, Equality, Equity, and Justice
When we talk about this dynamic, it’s important to be precise with our language.
Inequality is the imbalance itself—when one group, in this case women, is underrepresented in leadership or paid less for the same work.
Equality means everyone gets the same access, resources, and opportunities—important, but insufficient if starting points are wildly different.
Equity goes further, ensuring that resources and support are tailored to close gaps and remove disadvantages. Equity recognizes that the same opportunity offered to everyone doesn’t always yield the same outcome.
Justice is the ultimate goal: dismantling the systemic barriers—bias, exclusionary networks, inflexible work cultures—that created the inequity in the first place.
In multifamily, we’ve made strides toward equality—there are more women in leadership programs, on panels, and in professional networks than there were 20 years ago. But true equity is uneven, and justice is still aspirational. Until systemic barriers are addressed, progress will remain fragile.
Personal Reflection & Industry Trends
In nearly four decades in this business, I’ve seen real change worth celebrating.
I’ve watched women become business-line leaders, presidents of management companies, and CEOs of supplier partners. I’ve seen companies embrace family-friendly policies and, in some cases, actively recruit diverse talent for senior roles.
Yet, I’ve also seen how slow and uneven this progress is.
I personally hit the glass ceiling–hard. I ultimately left the industry for a brief period to accept my first C-suite role.
Industry data shows that while female candidate placements in top roles ticked up in recent years, the overall percentage of women in the C-suite has barely moved.
Too often, I still hear from women who are the “only” in the boardroom—or who’ve had to fight twice as hard for the same title or pay as their male peers. The persistence of this pattern is not just frustrating; it’s a business problem, because diverse leadership teams outperform homogenous ones in innovation, employee engagement, and profitability.
Why This Matters
When women’s advancement stalls, the industry loses more than fairness—it loses talent, perspective, and competitive advantage.
Studies show that diverse leadership teams make better decisions and deliver stronger financial results. Conversely, every time a qualified woman leaves because the path ahead is blocked, we weaken the leadership pipeline for the entire sector.
This is not a “nice-to-have” problem. Multifamily companies are in a war for talent. We cannot afford to overlook the very people who are driving operational success on the ground—people who, given the opportunity, could shape the industry’s future from the top.
Actionable Suggestions for Industry Leaders
If you’re serious about changing this dynamic, it requires intention—not just aspiration.
- Measure and publish the data: Track gender representation and pay at every level, and make those numbers visible. Transparency forces accountability.
- Invest in mentorship and sponsorship: Mentors offer guidance; sponsors open doors. Pair high-potential women with leaders who can advocate for their advancement.
- Design policies that work for everyone: Flexible schedules, equitable parental leave, and remote options aren’t perks—they’re retention strategies.
- Examine your culture: From the language in job postings to who gets invited to networking dinners, culture signals who belongs and who doesn’t.
- Be intentional in promotions and hiring: Require diverse candidate slates, and hold leaders accountable for developing talent inclusively.
- Tie DEI to performance goals: If leadership compensation is linked to operational metrics, it should also reflect progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A special note here given the unavoidable politics of our current administration: Have the leadership courage to pursue DEI initiatives rather than ditch them to the detriment of your companies and our industry.
Advice to Women in the Industry
For women navigating this space, my advice is simple but not always easy:
- Don’t accept being the “only” quietly. Seek out allies—both male and female—and build networks that lift you up and keep you connected.
- Ask for what you deserve—whether it’s a promotion, a raise, or a seat at the table. Your work is valuable, and your compensation should reflect it.
- Choose your culture wisely. No role is worth staying in a place where your voice is muted or your growth is limited.
- Push for change where you are. If your company’s panels, leadership teams, or recruitment pools are homogenous, say so. Offer solutions.
- Support others. When you reach a milestone, extend your hand to the next woman coming up behind you.
The road to equity and justice is long, but it’s easier to travel when we refuse to walk it alone.
Wrapping Up
The multifamily industry has the people, the talent, and the will to lead the way in building truly equitable leadership pipelines.
But good intentions without measurable action will only keep us moving at the same slow pace we’ve seen for decades. Equality—offering the same opportunity to everyone—is a starting point, but equity and justice require deeper, structural changes that remove barriers and make advancement a realistic outcome for all.
For industry leaders, this means making equity a business priority with the same seriousness as revenue or NOI. It means holding ourselves accountable for who sits in leadership chairs and who’s still waiting outside the door.
For women—and for all underrepresented voices—it means refusing to accept a career ceiling that’s invisible only to those not standing beneath it. It means speaking up, negotiating fiercely, and advocating for one another, because no one should have to navigate this path alone.
If we do this right, the next generation of women in multifamily won’t have to tell the same story I’m telling today. They’ll have a different one—a story not of the gaps we tolerated, but of the progress we made together.
About the author:
Judy Bellack is a seasoned business executive and consultant with 30 years’ experience leading sales/operations/marketing teams for suppliers to the multifamily industry. Former NAA Supplier’s Council Chair, NMHC Supplier Partner Alliance Chair and NAA Paragon Award Winner. Industry Principal for Michelson Found Animals.
