Gender disparity evident in agency leadership, compensation

The lack of women in leadership in insurance isn’t for lack of interest, and Liberty Mutual and Safeco’s report shows more than half of women ages 23 to 49 in agency frontline staff roles are interested in becoming an agency partner. (Credit: bxtr/Adobe Stock)

Sixty-percent of insurance agency employees may be women, but the industry still falls short when it comes to putting women in positions of leadership and paying them equally to their male peers. The recent “State of Women in Independent Insurance Agencies” report from Liberty Mutual and Safeco shows that 68% of producers and 96% of customer service representatives are women, but only 31% of agency principals and owners are women.

These trends also are apparent in the wider workforce. The report references data from McKinsey that found only 24% of C-suite executives are women, with women of color holding only 4% of these positions. McKinsey also found that companies that had the most gender-diverse executive teams were 21% more likely to have above-average profitability than those in the lowest diversity quartile.