HER ROOMIES INCREASING ACCOMMODATION RENTAL PARITY TO ADDRESS THE GENDER PAY GAP

March 8, 2022 – London, UK Her Roomies (“the Company”), Today on International Women’s Day, but also every day, Her Roomies is impacting how women are supported through the world’s first accommodation rental platform and community created for women. Her Roomies, co-founded by a woman and with an all-female Board of Advisors, is doing its part to create gender parity by making women the protagonist of their accommodation rental platform versus simply a gender filter.

According to the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics, in 2021, the gender pay gap was 15.4 percent, with the average men paying 28.6 percent of their salary towards rent and the average woman paying 42.6 percent. This matters because women are often forced to pay far more in rent or be priced out of the market altogether. Women also need to search more widely for affordable rental property, often commuting further and may be forced into cheaper, less safe neighbourhoods. All of this leads to more time and energy expended on ensuring they feel safe and can afford a place to live and more stress and a lower quality of life. This trend is repeated throughout Spain, the rest of Europe, and North America.

Chiara Fraser, the Co-Founder of the Company, knows first-hand the additional challenges women face when trying to find safe accommodation that suits not only their needs but also their wants, she says “Women face increased challenges when finding a home not only because of the gender pay gap, which means that women must pay a larger percentage of their salary towards rent but women are also concerned about the safety of the neighbourhood, landlord security checks and their roommates if they are sharing.” Thus, women must spend far more time finding a safe place to call home and using current platforms available are often left at a disadvantage.

Ms Fraser feels strongly that women deserve to be more than a filter as they represent fifty percent of the rental market. The Company offers its community all property rental types, everything from whole apartments to student residences, and soon access to their proprietary roommate matching system matcHer. Her Roomies rental Ecosystem supports and serves women throughout their rental lifetime journey, including safety and security checks like virtual neighbourhood walkthroughs, ID verification for property owners and verified listings. Essentially the platform is a one-stop shop for women seeking rental accommodation.

If you are still wondering why women need a platform created just for them? The World Economic Forum states: “There is no country where men spend the same amount of time on unpaid work as women. In countries where the ratio is lowest, it is still 2:1.” The Company is working to shorten the time women spend finding a home they love and feel safe in, as another step towards assisting parity.

The Company is currently raising funds through an equity crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube, which is 86 percent funded from over 90 investors to assist with their growth and expansion in the UK and Europe. When it comes to female entrepreneurs raising funds for their companies, only 2.8 percent of Venture Capital funding goes to women. The Company wants to help create a shift, and equity crowdfunding has long seen greater success for female-led businesses. Link to campaign: Roomies was founded on the vision of offering a comprehensive rental solution for female tenants and all property owners by creating a female-focused rental accommodation platform and community - a rental platform for HER. Her Roomies has developed a comprehensive platform that simplifies the rental process for HER and provides a custom experience to address each of HER individual needs—currently operating in Spain, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, and Holland. Her Roomies has seen a growth of over 100,000 users since launching in October 2020 and has listed over 44,000 rooms, apartments, co-livings, and student residences on the platform. Her Roomies is currently expanding its offering in Spain and has a United Kingdom expansion planned in the Autumn.

For more information, to request an interview, or for images, please contact:

Victoria Bennett, of Bennett Milner Williams Consulting Ltd. at: victoria@bmwconsults.com