We've recently written about the underrepresentation of women in the insurance industry and how much of the employment in financial services in general are far from the C-suite (“Let's Talk Sex and Money”). Now, industry-specific statistics bear this out. A 2012 study undertaken by Saint Joseph's University Academy of Risk Management and Insurance shows that women hold only 6 percent of top executive positions at insurance and reinsurance companies.

But you couldn't tell that from the healthy attendance at last week's IICF's Women in Insurance Global Conference, where 450 insurance women from across 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 and non-industry women—and a few men—addressing issues of diversity in the insurance workplace. Speakers included Pattie Sellers, editor of Fortune Magazine; Anne-Marie Slaughter, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University; Lori Fouche, former CEO of Fireman's Fund; Sharon Ludlow, president and CEO of Swiss Re Canada, and Patricia Henry, EVP of ACE Group.