Women and Insurance – a Long Way to Go?

How relevant are insurances in the discourse about gender equality? A closer look reveals that both insurance companies and their customers are predominantly male. This raises the question of whether women are sufficiently considered in insurance policies. This question is still not frequently asked - until today.

Eight years ago, a survey showed that women have fewer insurance policies than men. There can be many reasons for this. On the one hand, women are often co-insured with their partners; on the other hand, they simply do not consider various insurance products to be relevant. However, there is one factor that cannot be denied - women have on average less money at their disposal and therefore invest less in insurance and pensions.

Status Quo 2019: Unisex tariffs, women's insurance and much more to do

A lot has happened since then. For example, unisex rates have become compulsory, which means that insurance rates can no longer be differentiated according to gender. However, what came to the surface eight years ago is still just as relevant today. We can also see at Getsafe that insurance policies are still more frequently bought by men.

Another development within the insurance industry are insurance products that are only aimed at women. These are primarily health insurances for diseases that mostly or exclusively affect women.

Prerequisites for basic coverage for everyone

Apart from that, however, the relevance of insurance products does not depend on the gender of the insured. While there are products that are only suitable for dog owners (dog liability) or house owners (building insurance), there are insurances with universal relevance. These include insurance products such as household contents, liability or legal expenses insurance.

Our aim is to equip men and women alike with this basic insurance. To us, it goes without saying that we are offering easily accessible insurance products. We want to ensure this by offering a fair price, transparent communication and an intuitive user experience.

Why empowerment still plays a role

However good the basic requirements may be, insurance is still a product with a predominantly male clientele. Legal expenses insurance, for example, shows that this can have serious consequences. Unfortunately, even in 2019 many women still face difficulties in their professional environment when it comes to pregnancy and maternity leave. In order to ensure that the employer acts in accordance with labour law, being able to call a free lawyer hotline for advice is worth a lot. Should a legal dispute actually arise, it can often be expensive without legal protection. Women should not shy away from litigation in this situation. The legal expenses insurance can give them the necessary support to simply say: "Nope. I won't put up with that."

We are happy to be able to offer accessible products that support our policyholders. Insurance doesn't have to be complicated and annoying - we prove that day after day. Nevertheless, we would of course be much happier if there were no such problems at all in the 21st century. Sensitising women to the subject of insurance and breaking down possible barriers is therefore a strong driving force for us.

2020: What Getsafe still has to do

As an employer, it is our duty to always challenge our actions. As a tech start-up, we are confronted with a typical symptom of the tech industry, because more than half of our employees are male. However, diversity and equal opportunities are core values and we believe we have created the conditions to create a team with 50% women. We have not yet achieved this, but we are on the right track: just under 40 percent of the workforce is female.

However, we will not rest on our laurels at this point for a long time yet. After all, our managers in particular are almost exclusively male. We see this as a clear signal that we too can actively do more to encourage women to apply to us. "Empowering Women" is an important item on our Agenda 2020.

Further information on this topic:

Versicherungen für Frauen werden immer wichtiger - Süddeutsche Zeitung (German)

Frauen sind öfter schlechter versichert als Männer - Welt (German)

A Call to Action: Engaging Men in Gender Equity - Empower Women (English)