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FTAdviser article on women in mortgages

ended 20. August 2025

FTAdviser are running a story seeking responses from women brokers to the following questions…

  • What’s great about being a female broker?
  • Are there enough women and if not, what would you say to women thinking about mortgage advice as a career? 
  • What obstacles might be in their way and how would you advise them to overcome these? 

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Katy Eatenton
Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Eatenton Finance
I think the main advantage of being a woman advisor is that we have the ability to listen, not just to respond but actually hear what people are saying. There are definitely not enough women in the financial services industry. Whether this is personal choice or because the perception is that it is a male-dominated environment, who knows. Any woman thinking about becoming an advisor should definitely take the leap, as it’s one of the greatest professions there is.
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Kelsey Phillips
Head of Specialist Lending at Arose Finance
What sets female intermediaries apart is their organisation, analytical ability, and EQ — the very qualities that drive successful deal negotiations. The biggest hurdles, as I see them, are a lack of visible role models and, at times, perception bias. My advice is simple: back your expertise. I left a male-centric trading floor and found I could thrive as a specialist intermediary by having confidence in the quality of the advice I was giving. Within the last 12 months we have won the Best Newcomer to the Industry, highly commended as the FTAdviser's Industry Rising Star and have been awarded the Top Commercial Advisor by our Network. This industry rewards skill and confidence, regardless of gender.
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Patricia McGirr
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
Brokering today is like dodgeball: fast, unpredictable and at times unforgiving. You’ve got to be able to swerve in an ever-changing market. Advisors have to be agile and thick-skinned, acting as advocates as much as advisers. Women excel here, not because they need a tokenistic leg-up, but because empathy and resilience are the very qualities most women inherently possess.