Do Age and Gender Matter?

The number of female young agents responding to the Young Agents Survey grew in 2015 – 46.7 percent were female while 53.3 percent were male. In the 2014, only 39.5 percent were female.

While the gender gap appears to be evening out, at least in terms of young agents participating in the survey, some believe gender bias still exists in the agency ranks.

The survey revealed that some 41.8 percent believed the statement that the industry offers men more opportunity than women was “basically true,” while 22.4 percent had “no opinion” on that statement.

One survey respondent wrote: “I don’t like that it is primarily women in administrative or account manager roles and men in sales. I feel like it should be more even.”

Another noted that while her agency is “progressive” she gets the “old boys club” feeling, especially at industry events. “When I go to a conference I feel like I took a time machine back to the ’60s. It takes a lot of grace and patience to put up with the sexism and cultural ignorance of my peers.”

Being young and a female is challenging too, another respondent said. “I feel that being a woman and being young gives me a disadvantage. … I do see that business owners and commercial clients, both men and women, seem to feel more comfortable with a male salesperson.”

Nicole Pryde Johnson, a 32-year-old agent for Lovitt & Touché based in Tempe, Ariz., says that while insurance is a male-dominated field, that hasn’t prevented her from achieving her goals or seizing opportunities. “Females offer many different advantages, and I choose to focus on those,” Johnson said. “For instance, many males tend to be transaction based, rather than relationship based. I always strive to build personal relationships with my clients.” Johnson also believes more women in the industry should strive to help other women succeed. To help in that regard, she’s working on creating an informal women’s group to promote mentorship, networking and lead generation.