Insuring Women's Futures

As part of my involvement in D&I for AXA I got the opportunity to attend an event in London this week which was run by the Chartered Insurance Institute. The event was titled “Insuring Women’s Futures” and was designed to raise awareness of some of the issues women face in the financial markets, whether it be as a customer or as an employee.

One of the main issues which really struck me was around education. Recent research shows there is a real gap in women’s knowledge of the financial services available. What seems to happen in a number of cases (although by no means all) is that one partner in a relationship takes care of all the finances. In heterosexual relationships this seems to be the male partner more often than not. If this relationship then breaks down a woman can be left adrift with little or no knowledge of what financial products they need or the options available to them. This can be anything from car insurance to pensions to life & critical illness policies. What support is there for these women? The research would suggest very little.

You can even take this one stage further and look at education in schools. Do we as a financial services industry have a social responsibility to our local community to help provide education to children on how to manage their money? This can be anything from how to manage a weekly or monthly budget to how to save & plan for the future to what car, home and life insurance options are available.

Looking at this from another perspective this would also be a good opportunity to showcase insurance as a viable career choice. I work in a claims department and I don’t think there is a single member of staff here who said they wanted to go into insurance when they left school. It is widely acknowledged that there is a lack of women in the higher managerial positions in our industry and I feel the way to address this long term is to get into schools to promote our industry through education.

The one personal thought I took away from the event was how lucky I have been in my career. I heard some real horror stories from other women on Tuesday about the obstacles they have faced in their careers, especially when returning to work after taking maternity leave.

I can only speak for from my own observations but I have never once seen any instances of gender bias nor any discrimination against women wanting to return to work after having a child.

But then again, should I have to feel “lucky” that I haven’t personally seen any evidence of issues like this in this day and age? Shouldn’t this be the norm rather than something to be truly grateful for?