We've recently written about the underrepresentation of women inthe insurance industry and how much of the employment in financialservices in general are far from the C-suite (“Let'sTalk Sex and Money”). Now, industry-specific statistics bearthis out. A 2012 study undertaken by Saint Joseph's University Academy of RiskManagement and Insurance shows that women hold only 6 percentof top executive positions at insurance and reinsurancecompanies.

But you couldn't tell that from the healthy attendance at lastweek's IICF's Women inInsurance Global Conference, where 450 insurance women fromacross the U.S. and eight countries met to share success strategies(I'll be posting more later this week).

The speakers' list included a healthy mix of industry andnon-industry women—and a few men—addressing issues of diversity inthe insurance workplace. Speakers included Pattie Sellers, editorof Fortune Magazine; Anne-Marie Slaughter, professor of politicsand international affairs at Princeton University; Lori Fouche,former CEO of Fireman's Fund; Sharon Ludlow, president and CEO ofSwiss Re Canada, and Patricia Henry, EVP of ACE Group.

Attendees were primarily higher-level women in the industry,mostly at insurance and reinsurance companies. Yet even among thiselite group, the consensus was that women in insurance still have atough go of it. According to an onsite digital survey conducted atthe event, while 65 percent of attendees believed that genderinequality still exists in America, a whopping 82 percent thinkit's still a problem in the insurance industry. The biggest issuesholding women back, they believe, are lack of C-suite recognitionand sponsorship (49 percent), inadequate or inflexible workplacestandards (20 percent) and, tellingly, women not promotingthemselves more effectively (26 percent).

And although efforts like CEO endorsement, gender forums andmentoring/sponsorship are common methods to promote genderdiversity, a majority of respondents—37 percent—said theircompanies did “none of the above”—pretty shocking, considering

In spite of what appears to be a significant gap in formaldiversity programs, what does seem to be working is hands-onmentoring. Ninety percent of respondents said they had participatedin formal or informal mentoring, and 88 percent said they hadpersonally benefitted from a personal or professional mentoringrelationship.

However, several speakers pointed out that there's a bigdifference between mentoring—helping someone learn the ropes—andsponsorship, where someone in a position of power actively helpsadvance a woman's career by bringing her name up when high-levelpositions or board slots need to be filled.

Of course, no one supports “token females” in the boardroom oranywhere else; candidates for any high-level position must beskilled, experienced and fully qualified for the role. But studies(most notably one from 2011 by McKinsey) show that companies with women board membersperform better financially. If that isn't enough of a case fordiversity, I don't know what is.