Insurance Industry Celebrates Women’s Achievements
May 18-24, 2008, marked National Insurance Women’s Week, a celebration recognizing the contributions women are making in all areas of the insurance industry. The National Association of Insurance Women began NAIW Week as National Insurance Women’s Day on May 10, 1957. The first week long celebration called “National Insurance Women’s Week” was held May 16-22, 1965. Since then, the week beginning the third Sunday in May has traditionally been set aside each year to applaud men and women in insurance, and to recognize their achievements. In 1988, the event was renamed NAIW Week.
Across the country, local chapters of the association host celebrations, many of which include officer installations and awards banquets. Other chapters recognize the week by naming an Insurance Professional of the Year and a Rookie of the Year; hosting an Industry Night, by participating in All Industry Day, and by dedicating one day during the week for special attention to a critical industry and/or social issue such as drinking and
driving.
NAIW International took root in 1938, when Elsie B. Mayer and C. Bertha Rachofsky joined nine other Denver insurance women to form an organization for insurance education purposes, according to NAIW International. The two most challenging aspects facing Insurance Women of Denver in those first years were soliciting members and convincing employers that the association’s purpose was truly educational and not a cover for union activities, the association said.
By 1940, it was determined that the time for such an association was ripe. The organizational meeting was held June 21-23, 1940, in Denver. Mayer served as general chairman for the event and 19 groups, representing some 1,500 individual members, were among the attendees. Total registration was 187, of which 65 were delegates. States represented at the first meeting included Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. The chartering groups were 17, representing 2,000 individual
members.
Today, NAIW International is headquartered in Tulsa, Okla. Its members include both women and men who work in every facet of the industry. For more information about NAIW, visit www.naiw.org.