Insurance Women Still Run into Glass Ceiling

By E.E. Mazier

NU Online News Service, Feb. 8, 11:33 a.m. EST?The higher a woman climbs in the insurance business, the closer she will get to the "glass ceiling" barring advancement, according to an industry insider.

Catherine A. Kalaydjian, president of New York-based QBE Reinsurance Corp., gave her views in an interview with National Underwriter at a recent joint luncheon of the Association of Professional Insurance Women and the New York Chapter of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters in New York

Ms. Kalaydjian, who is president of APIW in New York, said she could call to mind only a couple of women who are currently chief executive officers at insurance companies.

She mentioned Susan Rivera, the president of American Home Assurance Co., and Debra McClenahan, the recently named chief executive officer of CNA Re.

Ms. Kalaydjian said that over time there have been few other female CEOs and they have not lasted long in their positions.

In her view, most women who have achieved the CEO position would agree that the road to the summit of power in an insurance company remains long and arduous.

"We all still see in our own companies that it's kind of a male club of senior executives-- lots of women in management roles, lots of women running service departments and the like, but not a lot of them in that upper echelon," Ms. Kalaydjian stated.

She said she based her views on her own experience and that of other women, including fellow APIW board members.

"I've been in the industry for 20 years and I've achieved in my own company, but there's still a glass ceiling," she said.

Looking around the room Ms. Kalaydjian noted that many of the women in attendance were in the 40-year-old age bracket.

"We should be feeling comfortable that we can achieve and become members of the senior executive committee" of an insurance company, she stated.

"I think younger women see more chances?because there are now women in management or in vice president or senior vice president spots that try to bring the women along and have them recognized." Ms. Kalaydjian reflected.

She cited the culture or attitude of a company as the primary factor behind the status of its female employees. While many companies are happy to rely on women as the "go-to person," she said, they are still not ready to move women to "the next level."

But Ms. Kalaydjian acknowledged that the situation is "getting better every day."

However, she said that women, in order to succeed, must keep toiling even in their off hours.

Women "have to do twice as much work [as men]," such as participating in extracurricular activities that help the company and ultimately help the women achieve visibility, Ms. Kalaydjian declared.

She said she was heartened by the remarks of the meeting's guest speaker, James F. Duffy, who chairs the Reinsurance Association of America as well as Minnesota-based The St. Paul Companies' Reinsurance Group.

Mr. Duffy advised, "Ladies, as you look at how you can help your associates, the next generation of women?coming into our business, my advice is if you see a glass ceiling, find a brick."

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Insurance Women Still Run into Glass Ceiling

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