Gender Balance as a Business Strategy
The insurance industry is built on assessing risk, yet many companies overlook a critical one: the risk of sameness in leadership. When all decision-makers look and think the same, they’re limited in their ability to spot emerging risks, connect with diverse customers, and navigate disruption. In a globally connected market, homogeneity can become a liability.
Avoiding this risk requires deliberate investment in diverse perspectives at the top. Gender balance helps unlock strategic advantages that lead to sharper judgment, stronger teams, and better outcomes for customers, employees, and shareholders alike.
A Persistent Leadership Gap
Women make up 59% of the insurance industry workforce, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and that figure rises to roughly 70% for entry-level roles. Yet the representation gap widens as careers advance–only 22% of C-suite positions in the industry are held by women.
In an industry where women form the majority of the workforce, there is a unique opportunity to build clearer leadership pathways and develop internal talent. Promoting from within, expanding mentorship programs, and ensuring equitable access to upskill opportunities are practical steps that can help women rise through the ranks while helping companies realize the full value of the talent within their walls.
The benefits extend far beyond representation. Gender-balanced leadership drives measurable improvements in how organizations think, decide, and perform.
Balance Improves Outcomes
Trust and human connection are central to the insurance business. A leadership team that reflects a range of experiences and perspectives is better equipped to anticipate risk and earn that trust. When leadership is dominated by a single demographic, it can fall into the trap of groupthink, overlooking nuances in risk assessment, messaging, or strategy.
Gender-diverse leadership teams, by contrast, are more likely to question assumptions, catch blind spots, and make better decisions under pressure. A whitepaper from decision-intelligence platform Cloverpop found that, when compared to individual decision-makers, all-male teams made better decisions 58% of the time, while gender-diverse teams made better decisions 73% of the time. Further supporting this, a study published in Science found that teams with more women had stronger collaboration through greater equality in conversation time and better use of the skills of each group member.
Where women are better represented, decision-making is enhanced and outcomes are improved. Companies where women represent more than 30% of executive leadership are significantly more likely to financially outperform those with less representation, according to a report from McKinsey & Company.
Higher Rates of Innovation
Innovation is critical to navigate shifting risks, digital disruption, and rising customer expectations. Gender-balanced leadership strengthens an organization’s ability to meet these challenges. Women leaders bring new perspectives, broadening how teams identify opportunities and approach new and complex problems.
Research shows that companies in innovation-focused industries with more women directors invest more in innovation and generate more patents. More specifically, these companies saw R&D expenses increase by 10%, patents increase by 6%, and citations increase by 7%.
Future-Proofing
The insurance sector is navigating a convergence of pressures between climate change, digital transformation, an evolving workforce, and customer expectations. Building resilience amid such complexity requires adaptable leadership. Inclusive leadership can help, but where do you begin?
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Promote from within. Encourage internal candidates to pursue stretch roles that build confidence and visibility.
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Expand mentorship. Establish mentoring programs that help women strengthen new skills and prepare to step into leadership.
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Broaden opportunity. Use stretch assignments, special projects, and job rotations to help women gain exposure and demonstrate readiness.
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Make decision-making inclusive. Include a diverse range of individuals to ensure the quality of decision-making improves.
The Bottom Line
When a company’s leadership mirrors the diversity of the customers it serves, it sees risk more clearly, connects with customers more deeply, and makes decisions more confidently. For an industry that exists to protect what matters most, balance is essential.
Boettcher is the chief operating officer at Hippo.