The Changing Landscape in Finance

“2025 marks 50 years since women in the UK were first legally allowed to apply for a mortgage without a male guarantor.”

As a Senior Client Account Executive for a female heavy firm, that headline caught my attention and I fell into a hole of statistics and reading what needs to change in the industry, the 1975 Sex discrimination act has certainly made waves for solo female homeownership and females in the industry but after reading the articles they certainly leaned more to those waves not being big enough.

My role at Fowler Smith offers me a rare opportunity to follow a client from the start of their home buying journey right up to completion, speaking to underwriters, solicitors, administrators and valuers, most of whom in my experience are predominantly female, guiding clients through each stage so I was surprised to read other articles highlighting the struggles still of women in the industry and solo female applicants looking to get a mortgage.

I am not a mortgage broker so will not try to get into the intricacies, but I am a single woman looking to purchase a property in the future, and I am aware solo ownership has many hurdles regardless of gender, saving for a deposit with one income being the biggest challenge. I am fortunate to work in the industry and know that lenders will be looking at much more than my income, I know they will be assessing my credit history and financial health which I can monitor and manage leading up to when I am ready to buy. I believe managing that and guided with the right advice by a good broker will help overcome many of those challenges that I face. We have come along way since women were just turned away prior to the Sex discrimination act in 1975 by banks and financial institutions because of gender, we now face hurdles rather than barriers, there is definitely a positive movement when it comes to solo women applying for a mortgage.

That positive movement is also seen in male dominated industries now too. My 19 year old daughter is entering her second year studying law and politics at University, historically both male dominated industries but after reading the articles it got us talking, she mentioned the opening speech from her law lecturer speaking to them at the start term who told them how interesting it is that in the blink of an eye it has turned from being male dominated to now almost predominantly female in the last five years. I am not sure what’s made that change in recent years, but it is certainly an interesting topic to look into and learn from particularly as I am immensely proud my daughter wants to enter the world of law.

Perhaps it’s our aims at Fowler Smith that makes us different and therefore offers me and our clients a different view compared to other articles.

“Our aim is to help you achieve your end goal with the right advice every time.”

Natasha Hughes

Senior Client Account Executive