Despite the persistent pay gap, women’s financial power is continuing to grow. About a third of the world’s wealth is under their control; almost 50 per cent of Australian women call the financial shots within their families; and more than a quarter are the breadwinners in heterosexual households across Asia. 

When it comes to life insurance, however, women are less inclined to buy it than men are and, when they do, their average cover is about half as much.

Research from Oliver Wyman shows women are the most underserved group of customers in financial services and their needs are not being met, despite their influential role as buyers.

‘There’s a traditional construct of the male being the primary breadwinner and women being the domestic caregiver and I don’t think the financial services industry has reviewed that over the past 40 years,’ says Rama Gollakota, principal — insurance at Oliver Wyman. 

He says this presents two key challenges for life insurers. ‘The first is that modelling and underwriting may still be based on those historical constructs.

The second is that insurance products are still largely distributed via financial advisers, and a lack of direct connection with policyholders can sometimes be a barrier to understanding who they are and what they really need.’

Closing the gap

Understanding what women want from life cover brings significant opportunities for insurers.

Oliver Wyman research shows that if life insurance were sold to women at the same proportion of their income as men, there would be US$500 billion in written premiums from new customers, and a higher premium per customer.

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