‘Stop promoting mediocre men’ – survey shows frustration with board representatives

Just under 43.7% of survey respondents said they were “extremely concerned” and another 35.4% said they were “a little concerned” about the lack of women on boards and in senior positions.

66.7% of those surveyed said that devoting time to childcare “has a significant impact” on a woman’s ability to succeed at work.

Meanwhile, about 74.2% of businesses believe businesses need to do more to support women going through menopause and menopause. Additional support would help encourage more women to join insurance company boards, she said, 47.1% of respondents, and a further 40.8% thought this would “probably” help.

Read more: Are mothers still punished for their business?

Survey respondents were divided on the best approach to redress the perceived lack of women on boards, with 11% saying that the board environment of an insurance company is “not conducive to women”. “I feel totally unwelcome,” he said.

An anonymous survey respondent said, “Women are being invited to boards because of regulatory scrutiny on board diversity, not because executives necessarily want women on board. ” commented.

“I walked into many conference rooms and they were all 100% male, and white,” said another.

“My experience with ex-executive women is that they are in a ‘hostile’ and ‘alpha’ environment,” commented one survey respondent. “Man on the board I spoke with said he often saw women come up with good ideas, but it was really picked up by men (whether or not they were attributed to women). Only if it reflects.”

Others cited “male-dominated activities” such as golf and horse racing. One respondent recalled being “asked for a coffee” when he was due to attend.

For one thing the industry and companies could do to improve the representation of women on boards, survey respondents suggested a range of actions.

These include increasing support through childcare and menopause, improving our recruitment process and talent pipeline, and investing in more mentoring and support for women.

Expanding the board to accommodate more voices was another suggestion, while others called for a culture change and a reset at the top.

“[Include] Because they participate in conversations early in their careers, they know how to handle tough conversations and can “groom” young men for senior positions,” suggested one survey respondent. did.

“Stop advertising mediocre men […] Look what happened to Amanda Blanc from Aviva or Sanna Marin from Finland,” said another.

Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc faced sexist comments at UK-based insurance company AGM in May, including that she was “not the right person for the job.”

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin faced an uproar after being photographed having fun at a party. Some commentators suggested the criticism had sexist connotations.

read more: Gender discrimination in insurance doesn’t work

IGI surveyed 159 professionals working in the insurance industry. Most of the survey respondents (65%) work for insurance companies or underwriters. Just under a quarter of her respondents (24.68%) worked for service organizations such as loss adjusters and software providers. The remaining respondents worked at brokers, MGAs, or legal professionals.

Most of the responses came from the UK (41.1%) and Bermuda (27.9%), with feedback also coming from the Middle East and North Africa (13.9%), US (12%) and APAC (1.3%).

A little more than 88.5% of the respondents were female, and nearly 78% were under the age of 45.

Just under a quarter (24.7%) of the responses came from senior vice presidents and vice presidents, with the majority not in board or C-suite positions. Two respondents (1.3%) said they were non-executive directors, and 20 respondents (12.7%) said they were executive committee, senior management or board members.

IGI D&I Champion Aaida Abu Jaber said that given the quality and quantity of data, the results should be used as ‘indicators’ rather than drawing scientific conclusions.

“In terms of research and results, this is a starting point,” said Abu Jaber.

“I have to stress – companies like us, people [in the industry] It needs to be highlighted and the women themselves need to go out and highlight it. “

Abu Jaber said women who took time out for childbirth or adoption may find that young men had the opportunity to take on their role during that time.

She also pointed out the difficulties women face when they are going through the body changes associated with menopause.

A combination of factors can also cause women to lose confidence in themselves and their careers as they age.

“[As women age they may start to feel that] They haven’t reached where they should be,” Abu Jaber said.

“Once you reach that stage, you may lose confidence and be hesitant to apply for the position.

According to Abu Jaber, this “internal doubt about one’s own abilities”, combined with the physical effects of aging and menopause, may keep some women away, encouraging women to support each other. There is a need.

As disappointing as it may be, it is “not surprising” that those surveyed felt that regulatory intervention might be necessary to force change, said Abu Jaber.

She suggested that regulatory goals for senior leaders need to go hand in hand with efforts to encourage young women, and youth in general, to participate equally in the industry.

The proportion of women on boards has broadly increased since the mid-2010s.

According to BoardEx’s Global Gender Balance report, by 2020, 75% of Global Index boards were made up of 22% or more female members, compared with 75% of female members below 25% in 2014. was.

Norway was the first country to introduce quotas in 2003, requiring at least 40% of board members to be women, and some jurisdictions have followed suit.

Anecdotal feedback to the IGI survey suggests that the issue of quotas is divided, with some commenting that they would like to see quotas and others not believing it was the solution.