Have women made gains in the top leadership positions at insurance companies?

Abstract

Gender diversity on corporate boards and in other leadership positions is an area of concern for many global companies (Di Biase & Onorato, 2021; Doan & Iskandar-Datta, 2018). This paper updates and enhances an industry study “Women are making steady gains” (2018) that examined the state of gender diversity in the global insurance industry. We analyze trends to see if women have made any significant gains in board leadership, C-suite, and insider positions in insurance over time. Our sample covers 83 insurance companies as of 2021 and compares the gains from those made previously. Our results show a clear trend of improvement in gender representation in the board of directors and insider positions for firms in the insurance industry. However, the gains stop there, and unfortunately, no significant advancement for the percentage of women in the C-suite positions is evident in our dataset at this time. A meager 10% of all CEO and CFO positions in this sample of the insurance industry are held by females. Our research is important as it demonstrates which segments of the industry females are making gains and where we see deficiencies. We also suggest ways we feel future gains can be made.