Blog: Celebrating Women’s History Month – Q&A with Prominent Private MI Industry Leaders
Women are a driving force in the housing market – despite still facing a gender wage gap, single women own 2.71 million more homes than single men (10.95 million versus 8.24 million) and are more likely to own a home in 47 of 50 states, according to a recent analysis by LendingTree of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. This trend has only increased in the last few years as the analysis found that the homeownership gap between single women and single men increased by 70,000 homes from 2021 to 2022.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, USMI met with top women leaders in the private mortgage insurance (MI) industry who hold executive roles within USMI and its member companies. The participants discussed their experiences, shared advice, and highlighted the important work they are doing to enable access to affordable and sustainable homeownership.
“Having women in leadership positions in the housing finance industry helps to ensure that women and all borrowers are better served in the marketplace.”
– Christina Brown – VP and Senior Counsel, USMI
“To truly achieve excellence and continue to improve, we need a range of voices and experiences providing input so that we can achieve the best results. Similarly, a variety of experiences and perspectives is essential to forging better and deeper connections and fostering a truly inclusive environment.”
– Neenu Kainth, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Enact
“To better serve and support women borrowers and to best understand the needs of all borrowers, as an industry, we need to have a more inclusive and diverse workforce, especially gender equality. An industry can’t effectively serve women if they are not represented in key leadership and decision-making roles.”
– Dianna Higgins, SVP Investor Relations, MGIC
“We all know that despite great progress, the female wage gap still exists. This means that, all else being equal, it takes women longer to save for a down payment to buy a home. Continued support of the private mortgage insurance industry is critical to ensuring access to financing for women and all low down payment borrowers when they need us the most.”
– Lesley Alli, SVP Industry Relations and Corporate Communications, National MI
“At Radian, we are proud to have women in leadership positions who are breaking down workplace barriers and serving as transformational role models for everyone. By prioritizing gender diversity and inclusion, we are able to tap into a wider range of perspectives and experiences, which helps us to develop more inclusive and effective solutions for our customers.”
– Whitney Dodd, VP Public Policy, Radian
