Why we need more female advisers

The persistent gender gap in life insurance in New Zealand can be observed through two major metrics.

One is that women are heavily under-represented in the advisory industry; according to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), as of June 2021, women make up around 28% of financial advisers in New Zealand.
The other - likely a consequence of the first, at least in part - is that in an overall underinsured nation (per Financial Services Council research), women have significantly less cover, with between 14 and 25 percent lower sums insured than men for trauma, life, and income protection insurance.

Gemma Vivian (pictured), general manager Adviser Engagement Distribution at Partners Life, knew nothing about insurance when she started working in the field nearly 14 years ago.

“Back then, Naomi [Ballantyne] was one of the only female CEO’s. If you put on a women’s event, there were about 15 women on the invite list as they were really the only ones in the industry. When I joined the BDM team six years ago, there were only two women and now half our team of 15 are female."