Amplify Women: the challenges ahead
Dan Towle, president of CICA, provides a snapshot of what still needs to be done on the road ahead.
Educating, networking with and supporting women is extremely important to the captive insurance industry, which is why the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) has set up its Amplify Women initiative.
Amplify Women focuses on representing women in educational and networking opportunities such as speaking at conferences, publishing articles, teaching and academic partnerships.
CICA’s managing committee chose the name Amplify Women to represent their efforts to address the gap in women leaders. Insurance industry studies show women make up over 60 percent of the workforce in the industry, but when it comes to officers and other senior level positions those numbers drop below 20 percent.
Dan Towle, CICA president, explained to Captive International what some of the key issues are for the association.
What do you think deters people from entering the world of captives?
We are making progress, but we still see a lack of awareness and understanding of captive insurance, the unique and challenging work, and the rewarding careers our industry offers. Often today we hear captive professionals talk about how they “fell” into captive insurance. We want to make captive insurance a career of choice, instead of an accidental discovery.
"Encouraging more women speakers has helped bring in fresh perspectives to our education programme." Dan Towle, CICA
What challenges are gender-specific to women in the captives industry?
We need to look beyond the total numbers and consider whether we are creating opportunities for career growth. Having large numbers of women employees is not meaningful if they don’t see they have career opportunities. At CICA we made it known we want a balance of men and women speakers at our conference. This year we were pleased that women made up 46 percent of our speakers—most industry conferences have about 30 percent. Encouraging more women speakers has helped bring in fresh perspectives to our education programme.
What solutions would you like to see?
- Get them engaged early in your organisation and the captives industry so they see the career opportunities available at your company and across the industry.
- Continue to provide more opportunities to develop the technical and soft skills essential for success in captive insurance. Bring more women and young professionals to industry conferences. Support their involvement in programmes such as CICA’s Amplify Women and NEXTGen where they can serve on committees, network, build public speaking skills and more.
- Encourage knowledge transfer. It needs to be acceptable for senior managers to step back sometimes so that others can take on new opportunities such as leading a project or speaking at a conference. This lets them know they are supported and have opportunities to build their industry knowledge and advance their careers.
Click here to read Captive International’s first Influential Women in Captive Insurance publication, celebrating the women transforming the captive sector through their sustained excellence and leadership.
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