FTA: Are we missing products the female market would need altogether?
GdE: I think this is actually more about how we structure products and their flexibility. The absolute ideal is a protection wrapper, which then allows women to choose what protection elements they need.
They might just start with life insurance, then they add some critical illness cover plus some mental health support and a 24-hour GP service. Then they get married and they decide they want to get dual life insurance as well as their CIC.
Then they have a baby and decide to review their protection needs and choose to have IP, with some child CIC as well as a dual life insurance policy.
Wouldn’t it be great if they could get all this cover without having to go through identical processes with multiple providers? Is there a way we can build protection so it’s open and portable, and easily flexed to lifestyle changes?
The industry has some elements of this in place, but I think we could go a lot further and again make it far simpler for our customers.
FTA: How would you rate the representation of women working in the protection industry?
GdE: It’s getting better all the time. When I first started working in finance and attending events you could quite often count the amount of women in the room on one hand, and you never had to queue for the toilet at lunch times!
Now there are more women at all levels across the protection industry. We still need to do more to allow women to reach senior leadership roles, or act as NEDs, as the senior level roles still seem to be filled predominantly by men.
FTA: Do we need more female protection advisers for female clients?
GdE: I don’t think we should get into an argument of female clients wanting female advisers, it’s not helpful for the industry
and I don’t think it’s true anyway – my financial adviser is male.
But what women do want is for their financial concerns to be heard, to be treated as an equal and not be patronised, and be offered a solution that they understand and fulfils their needs.
An adviser needs to be mindful of their communication style, their verbal and non-verbal cues and their overall presence.
