Female reporters on the commercial real estate beat

Guelda Voien of The New York Observer writes about the the preponderance of females on the commercial real estate beat, particularly in New York.

Voien writes, “A reporter on the finance side of commercial real estate who requested anonymity said she finds her interaction with brokers and traders to be highly gender-based. One broker asked her to meet him for a drink at his hotel; when she suggested lunch, he canceled the interview. More than one has asked during their first conversation if she is married.

“So why is this nitty-gritty industry the purview of the fairer sex? ‘Maybe because women were more open to taking the beat; it wasn’t a step aside, it wasn’t covering the government or the city,’ Ms. Weiss of the Post says, ‘and looking back, I think women were willing to work for less.’

“The one common theme: necessity. The unnamed reporter covering real estate finance says she took her job for a simple reason: ‘only gig in town.’ Plus, the crowd commercial real estate attracts is not exactly demure, unassuming women. ‘I don’t think of myself as a man or a woman, just a businessperson,’ Ms. Herman says.”

Read more here.