ATLANTA, Ga., August 19, 2015 — Carrier Management — Breckenridge proudly co-sponsored the Women’s Leadership and Career Advancement in the Insurance Industry Study Comparing the Insurance Sector to the General Economy conducted by Drake University College of Business and Public Administration. Led by Dr. Radostina Purvanova, Ph.D. Associate Professor, the results demonstrate that although highly-motivated, women are not advancing as quickly as male counterparts. “Starting in similar roles, 65 percent of women in the insurance industry remain in nonsupervisory roles by their third job, compared to less than half in other industries. And while 7 percent of men in the insurance industry reported being in the top management role by the time they got to their third job, none of the women had a top job.”

The research also highlighted a need for mentorship of aspiring women by senior male leadership. In the recent Carrier Management article summarizing this study, Purvanova notes “women in insurance are even more likely than women in other sectors to find themselves in a gender-segregated mentoring situation. Given that men more often hold positions of power in organizations than women, this means that female employees have less access to social capital than male employees through their mentors.”

A prior Saint Joseph’s University Study on Insurance Industry Demographics study from earlier this year finds that while indeed more women are “in the boardrooms and C-suites of insurance companies than was the case two years ago, men are still the clear majority.” This study was funded by Erin Hamrick, a partner with executive search firm Sterling James who also co-funded the Drake study with Breckenridge.

For additional study results and video perspectives on the findings, please see the Carrier Management feature article.