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Let me put my REALTOR cap on for a minute... Houston Assoc of Realtors isn’t the first group to avoid the word “master” and they won’t be the last. It’s not about being “too woke” and it’s not pointless. I’ll explain in this #thread. https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1276378429512974337
For the typical American family, owning real estate has been the most important driver of net worth. Folks have used equity in their homes to start businesses or pay their kids’ college tuition. They’ve passed homes to kids, who could live in them or sell them. It’s a big deal.
Owning real estate has also been more prohibitive for certain groups than others. People of color, women, the LGBTQIA+ community and folks with disabilities, to name a few groups, have been all but prevented from buying homes at one point or another in America.
To acknowledge that, Realtor Assocs. at the local and national language have changed the desired language for advertising. “His and her’s” closets doesn’t work anymore, not because it’s literally trying to exclude gay couples today, but because historically it’s been an issue
Descriptions aren’t supposed to say “walking distance” because that language isn’t inclusive to folks with disabilities, many of whom have struggled to participate in the real estate market.
And we aren’t saying that the use of “master” is racist. But changing the language used in real estate to acknowledge its prohibitive history and make it more inclusive today is a small step toward undoing systemic advantages and disadvantages in real estate.
