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EDITORIAL

Women and subprime loans

Published Nov 4, 2007 10:13 PM

Another facet of the war on women in the United States was exposed in an Oct. 22 Boston Globe column by Anita Hill, who noted that the subprime housing loan crisis is disproportionately affecting women. The crisis has affected millions of working class people whose homes have been foreclosed, and exacerbated a general economic crisis that has now spread across the globe.

It’s not just that more women are purchasing homes, which they are. The column cites studies by the Consumer Federation of America and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that show women receive less favorable loan terms for home purchase, refinance and home improvement than men with similar economic status. The Okalahoma Journal Record reported in 2006 that, nationally, women were 32 percent more likely to receive subprime mortgage loans than men. (Dec. 8)

If this wasn’t enough to show the discrimination of these predatory lenders, Hill points out, “The studies also show that the gap between women and men receiving subprime loans actually increases as women’s income increases.”

Women of color face the same double oppression in the housing market that they face throughout U.S. society. WW has previously noted that a disproportionate number of those relegated to subprime loans are Black and Latin@. But Hill says evidence suggests that across all loan types, African-American and Latin@ women are charged higher fees and rates than same-race men and white men, regardless of income.

The war on women—which manifests itself in the continued offensive against reproductive rights; war abroad; lack of pay equity; sexual harassment in the military; poverty and the denial of social services; raids and detentions of immigrants; attacks on people of color and lesbian, gay, bi and trans people; and so much more—must be seen as an integral component of capitalism and U.S. imperialism, which attempts to sow divisions amongst workers along race and gender lines in order to further exploit them.

Just as women can be seen at the lead of many anti-imperialist struggles, the war against women must be put at the forefront of the anti-imperialist movement. Its defeat will come with the end of the system that oppresses us all.