Are women being fairly represented within the mortgage industry?

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.”

Industry
events:
Is
a
change
needed?

While
Hernandez
praised
efforts
by
organizations
such
as
the
Association
of
Independent
Mortgage
Experts
(AIME)
to
put
women
forward
for
panels
and
ensure
stronger
female
representation
at
industry
events,
she
said
the
most
prominent
voices
within
the
sector
continued
to
be
male.

“It’s
a
little
bit
more
female
than
male
in
the
field,
but
what
we
see
up
on
stage
is
consistently
male,”
she
said.
“It
just
got
to
a
point
where
I
was
like,
‘I
can’t
go
to
another
all-male
panel,
because
my
life
as
a
woman
in
business
and
in
mortgage
with
children
and
all
of
that
–
my
challenges
are
a
little
bit
different.