During the pandemic there has been a vastly different employment experience between men and women. Statistics provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that for most of the pandemic, women have experienced higher unemployment. In April and May 2020, when unemployment numbers were peaking, female unemployment was over 2% higher than male unemployment. Even more drastically, married women unemployment rate was over 3.3% higher than married men. The pandemic has highlight the discrepancy between male and female unemployment.

                Unemployment rates are just one example of the gender gap. Another area that women are disadvantages is in mortgage rates. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requires that mortgage information be publicly disclosed by financial companies. It includes loan-level information about mortgages, rates, and total interest costs. This information paints a clear picture: women overpay for mortgages compared to men. Alaska is the only state in the US where women’s average mortgage rates are lower than men.

Here are the 5 states with the biggest disparity between men and women.

Here are the 5 states with the smallest disparity between men and women.

**Assumes an average loan size of $345,000. Data comes from Ownup.com

It is clear that women pay more for mortgages, but the math does not explain what mechanism is causing this. A likely cause of the mortgage rate discrepancy is the calculations that are used to determine a person’s mortgage eligibility. The DTI (Debt-to-income) ratio, LTV (Loan-to-value) ratio, credit score, and type of property are all important aspects in the mortgage rate. Due to the discrepancy in pay between men and women, they are more likely to have worse DTI and credit scores. This in turn increases their mortgage rate. There is a clear difference in pay between men and women. This in turn means that women are more likely to have higher interest rates on their mortgages which only sets them further behind. Shedding light on this problem to bring awareness to it is the first step to solve it. Share to spread awareness.

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