One prominent real estate investor shocked some audience members at a conference on Wednesday when he used vulgar language to describe how he works with and promotes women within the industry.

"I never promoted a woman because she was a woman," Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, said at the REITweek investor conference hosted by Nareit in New York.

"I never demoted a woman because she was a woman. My issue is what do you do, what do you produce, how do you interrelate to the rest of the business," he went on.

"I don't think there's ever been a, 'We gotta get more p---- on the block, OK?'" Zell said.

There weren't many laughs, the audience got "very silent," and there was "quite a bit of shock," according to Edward Jones real estate investment trust analyst Matt Kopsky, who was in attendance when Zell's comments were made.