DEEP DIVE — Beyond the insurance gender gap

 

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In 2019, Melissa Tay travelled from Singapore to New York to attend an event for the Marine and Insurance Claims Association.

A manager at WKW Cargo, Tay had worked in insurance since 2004 and, like other attendees at the event, she had deep experience of working with cargo claims and managing a busy claims team. A key difference, however, was that she was one of the only women in the room.

“Events like that were filled with men years ago,” says Tay, “I’d become used to it.”

Jane McGovern, Chief Customer and Strategy Officer at MLC Life, has similar recollections of industry events earlier in her career.

McGovern joined MLC Life in 2022 as chief risk officer before moving into her current role last year. Her previous experience includes senior leadership roles at Zurich Australia, Allianz Australia and icare NSW. “There were things like golf days that insurers would attend with brokers, and they were typically male-dominated events,” she says.

“That would happen quite frequently, but it has shifted a lot, and I think that’s a symbol of how far the insurance industry has moved.”

Time brings progress

Gender diversity challenges persist in the insurance industry across the globe, but progress is being made. Sharyn Reichstein, Chief Risk Officer at Tower Insurance in New Zealand, recalls that flexibility was uncommon in the industry early in her career.

“In the early days of my career, I was navigating a new city in Sydney, so I didn’t have a lot of family support,” says Reichstein, who joined Tower in 2023 following the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, where she was most recently general manager of general insurance.

“There was very little flexibility offered then, and I had few people to talk to about how hard it can be to juggle family, work and childcare.

"Things are a lot better now and while we still have a way to go to achieve true gender equity, I’ve been impressed with Tower’s progress in this space.

"Tower has a lot of meaningful initiatives in place to improve the working experience for women and ultimately families - this support is so important.

Like Tay and McGovern, Reichstein has seen significant change. At Tower, for example, all employees have access to flexible working. It provides 16 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers and four weeks paid leave for partners.

Its seven core employee representation groups include Mana Wahine Toa, a women’s network focused on understanding and improving the work experiences of women at Tower, while providing mentorship, leadership, and development opportunities.

Women in executive roles

MLC Life has also made significant progress in areas such as gender diversity at leadership levels.

“When I first joined MLC Life two-and-a-half years ago, there were two females on the executive team of about 10,” says McGovern. “The current team has six female executive members out of 10, and we have two shareholder representatives who are male.”

McGovern says that gender equality is now a formal sustainability goal at MLC Life. She sponsors the company’s employee-led gender equity group and says that diversity of thinking helps it to reflect and serve its customers.

“We are very conscious of gender diversity in how we attract individuals to the organisation,” she says. “We have created a recruitment policy which requires that certain levels of positions need to have at least 40% females [in the candidate pool].

“I strongly advocate for a meritocracy, and I do believe that the best person for the role is the right person for the role,” adds McGovern.

“But to ensure that you have a pool of diverse talent, there should be a focus on ensuring that there's at least close to equal male and female candidates.”

Tay has also seen huge change during her two decades at WK Webster. She started her career with the company as a receptionist before becoming an executive assistant and rising through the ranks.

“When I started out, it was really male dominated and leadership positions were mainly held by men, but that has gradually changed,” says Tay, adding that gender representation in leadership is now close to equal at WK Webster.

“And when I went to another MICA seminar in New York last year, there were a lot more females there.”

Work to be done

Despite progress across the industry, there is much work to be done in levelling the playing field for all insurance professionals.

In Australia, for example, the financial and insurance services industry still has the highest total gender pay gap of any sector, according to data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

While the gap has shown a consistent downward trend over the past seven years, it currently sits at 27.5%.

Some of the most common causes of gender pay gap include a gender imbalance in leadership roles and women’s greater time out of the workforce for caring responsibilities impacting career progression and opportunities.

“I do think there are plenty of females within the industry,” says McGovern. “It's just that breaking through into executive leadership teams of organisations has only really shifted in recent years. And don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to be done even in that space.”

From 2022-23, all private Australian companies with 100 or more employees are required to make public their gender pay performance data, which is published on the WGEA website.

MLC Life’s data for that year shows its median total remuneration gender pay gap was 11.6%, and the gap is largely driven by the distribution of males and females in the organisation.

While pay gap reporting is not mandatory in New Zealand, Tower was one of the first 50 companies to join Aotearoa New Zealand’s Mind the Gap register in 2022, where specific pay gap reporting is carried out.

Within a year, Tower reduced its gender pay gap by 5.7%, down from 25.9% in the 2022 financial year to 20.2% in the 2023 financial year.

Women mentoring women

Tay credits mentorship as vital to helping her to succeed in the industry. She now mentors other women to help foster their careers.

“I would like to see more mentorship and training opportunities for women in insurance,” she says. “My director was always very encouraging and would say, ‘Hey Mel, you should go for this opportunity’, and that helped to build my confidence.”

Reichstein would like to see more leadership programs for women at all levels across the industry, including for emerging leaders who may be transitioning into a management role at the same time as starting a family.  “This juncture creates unique challenges for women,” she says.

“I’ve seen some wonderful programs that have allowed women to share their concerns, reset and continue in their career journeys with new tools and the support of peers. “I’d also love to see more programs in schools and universities that showcase insurance as a career option. ”

For McGovern, pay reviews and reducing the gender pay gap should be a priority for the industry. 

“As women, in particular, often need to leave the workforce at certain times in their career, when they come back, they're missing those years of pay reviews,” she says.. Normalising flexible work is a sign of progress, adds McGovern.

“Covid meant that every organisation needed to adopt more flexible ways of working, and I think the industry can continue to grow and develop that.” Playing a positive role For women seeking to advance their career in insurance, McGovern says there is an opportunity to play a positive role in the broader community.

“A career in insurance is very fulfilling, and most people that I work with in life insurance are very passionate about what we do,” she says.

“It can be a male dominated industry, but it doesn't mean that it's not changing. The change is happening and the change is material.” Tay’s advice is to trust yourself.

“Grab every opportunity that comes to you, otherwise you won’t know what you’re really capable of doing” she says. 

Reichstein’s advice for women in insurance is to focus on fostering relationships and sharing experiences. 

“Learning how other women have dealt with obstacles can often set you free from self-limiting beliefs,” she says.“ I still carry nuggets of gold with me that I’ve collected from others, and I draw on these regularly for courage and conviction.

“The future is bright for women in insurance,” adds Reichstein. “It’s one of the most exciting and rewarding industries I’ve had the pleasure of working in, and I look forward to continuing to see positive change in this space.”