Voices of P&C Women

Happy International Women’s Day, 2024!

For the past three years, Canadian Underwriter has been producing this tribute to the perspectives of women in the Canadian property and casualty industry — which, by the way, is made up of 66% women, 3 percentage points higher than in 2017.

The industry is filled with women helping clients “make themselves whole” after a calamity strikes, be it a flooded basement, an injury sustained in a car collision, or a business folded due to circumstances beyond the company’s control.

Several studies point to companies with woman in top leadership positions reaping the profits, both figuratively and literally.

Global IT staffing firm Frank Recruitment Group in 2022 reported the results of a study showing 87% of 2021’s Fortune 500 companies with female CEOs reported above-average profits. For those without a woman in charge, the figure dropped to 78%.

And as we reported last year, in senior management roles, women in the P&C industry were making headway as of 2018.

“Women have the highest degree of representation in front-line management roles, where they account for 59% of employment,” the Insurance Institute of Canada observed in its 2018 demographic study. “Women also have a high degree of representation among middle management positions in the P&C insurance industry, where they account for 49% of the people employed in this occupation.”

And so, to recap thus far:

• We have proportionally more women in the P&C industry than the average in other Canadian industries.
• Women demonstrate proven financial success as top company executives.
• We have a very large proportion of women in front-line management and middle management roles, which represents a significant pipeline to the C-suite positions.

And finally, consider the competencies P&C industry HR professionals say are becoming critical for business success over the next two years — professionalism, critical thinking, collaboration and teamwork, and interpersonal skills. These are crucial skills for navigating and adapting to an uncertain economy, the IIC’s demographics research shows in 2023.

These also happen to be leadership competencies at which women score better than men, a recent Harvard Business Review study shows.

“According to an analysis of thousands of 360-degree reviews, women outscored men on 17 of the 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor ones,” the researchers said.

For example, on “inspires and motivates others,” women outscored men about 54% to 50%. On “builds relationships,” women topped men about 53% to 50%. And on “collaboration and teamwork,” women again rose to the top by 52.6% to 50.2%

So, with all of these things going for them, why did women only make up 35% of senior management positions in the industry in 2017, the latest stats available?

Make no mistake, “women’s share of senior management positions in the P&C insurance industry has shown the most improvement over the past decade, rising from 28% to 35%,” the IIC’s 2017 report notes.

And yet, one only has to attend industry conferences to see the top P&C organization executives on stage are predominantly men, not women. Why is all of the encouraging movement at the industry’s lower organizational levels not rising to the top, as it should?

This is an area where one could talk of a “glass ceiling.”

It’s a topic ripe for discussion. And one the industry should seriously consider, as it aims to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. How can we support the path of women as they rise up the industry ranks?

We approached six women leaders in the P&C industry to ask for their thoughts on how to answer this question. It is our hope their perspectives will inspire our readers, provide a foundation for discussing these topics, and raise the profile of the many women participating at all levels of the Canadian P&C industry.

Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/AlonzoDesign