Are women being fairly represented within the mortgage industry?

Much to be done to ensure women’s voices are heard, says executive

The US mortgage industry may traditionally have been viewed as something of a “boys-only” club – but that perception is slowly changing as representation of women within the sector begins to climb.

Zippia’s latest research on loan officer demographics in the US indicates that the disparity between male and female employment in the profession has slowly whittled down since 2010, with men making up 55.3% of loan officers as of 2022 and women accounting for 44.7%.

The company’s study, which estimated loan officer demographics and statistics in the US by using a database of 30 million profiles, also shone a light on pay inequality in the field – noting that female loan officers earned 87% of what men made in 2022.

It’s worth emphasizing that the industry has made slow progress toward gender parity in terms of representation, with the percentage of female loan officers seeing only a slight uptick over the past 12 years – and fluctuating substantially from year to year.

In a recent interview with Mortgage Professional America on her launch of a women-only industry event in Texas, Paige Hernandez (pictured top), senior mortgage loan originator at Heritage MTG Inc., highlighted the impostor syndrome that can sometimes rear its head when it comes to forging a career as a woman in the mortgage industry.

“[There are] different challenges that we [encounter] when we start building our business, especially in the online space,” Hernandez said. “We think things like, ‘Who does she think she is?’ That’s one of the first things that pops up when you put yourself out there. I don’t think men think that.”

By Fergal McAlinden

19 April 2024 READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE