New York updates state real estate law to include gender neutral terms such as ‘salespeople’

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill this week that updates the state’s real estate laws to include gender neutral terminology.

“More than 65 percent of women in the Empire State and across the country are realtors, according to statewide and nationwide data, but one might probably not know that because of outdated pronouns that often refer to people in the industry as real estate salesmen,” wrote New York State Senator Anna Kaplan, who headed the effort to update the language in the state’s real estate laws.

The New York Senate passed the bill earlier this month and delivered it to the governor for signature. The new law changes the language in the laws from salesman or salesmen to salesperson or salespeople. 

“Prior to the new law, the underlying section of the state’s real property law, which regulates the real estate brokerage and sales professions and was written in 1927, included 85 references to ‘salesmen’ and dozens of instances of gendered pronouns like he, him, and his. The law only included references to a ‘salesperson’ in two places, and made no references to ‘saleswomen,’” said Senator Kaplan’s office.

“Jobs have no gender, but unfortunately, many of our state’s laws still use gendered language when discussing professions that are practiced by people of all genders,” said Kaplan. “It’s important that we update these antiquated sections of the law to reflect our New York values and send a message that everyone, regardless of gender, should be able to pursue their passions.”