Gender Inequality In The Insurance Industry

Have you ever wondered if men and women who poses the same qualifications receive equal pay within the insurance industry? If so, do you believe that in the 21st century men still receive higher pay than women, even if a woman’s qualifications exceeds or are equal that of her male coworker? If you answered yes, you are correct. Gender inequality in the insurance agency has been an ongoing issue over many years and still exists today. Gender inequality began over time as a result of women becoming more qualified for well-paying jobs with great benefits. In which these jobs were at one point only given to men. Since the law states, that a job employer cannot decline a person a job offer because of ones gender, more women are being hired in the
But as time goes on the male is more likely to make more money and receive a promotion to a position of higher authority. Even if his work quality is equal to or less than that of his female co-worker. Although many job industries are becoming more diverse, allowing women to hold more senior positions, the problem of gender inequality still exists. This problem is most common within the insurance industry. The insurance industry is known to have the lowest number of females holding management and senior positions compared to all other job industries. The insurance industry began only hiring males, today there is an equal amount of male and female employees with majority of the women holding low paying positions. The reason many women hold positions of lower salaries, are as a result of societal influences dating back to over 50 years
Although the insurance industry is more diverse there is still a huge gap between women and men when it comes to equal pay and promotional opportunities. As stated by Wojcik (2013), “Only 6% of top executive positions across the insurance industry are held by women, and only 12.6% of board seats belong to women” (p.0015). The percent of jobs held by women in the insurance company is extremely low, while most companies percentage of women in senior positions are well above 40%. Also women make approximately 20% less than men of any other industry based off of research mentioned by Wojcik (2013), “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the pay disparity is greater in the finance and insurance services sectors than all other industries, with women's earnings averaging 62.2% of their male counterparts, compared with 82.2% for all other industries” (p.0015). Wojcik believes the cause of unequal promotional opportunity and pay raise within the insurance industry is a result of the insurance industry being predominantly male in which the men who run these companies believe women’s abilities to succeed are far less than that of a man, stating “Because male-dominated senior management teams set the tone for their organizations and often determine who gets promoted and who does not, they tend to select protégés resembling themselves. Such unconscious biases have a tendency to undermine