A new report from IWF highlights the overwhelming deficit in British women's financial resilience.
Insuring Women's Futures has launched a major new report into the trends in risk that are disproportionately borne by women.
Securing The Financial Future of The Next Generation identifies six 'moments that matter' in women's lives, highlighting 12 'perils and pitfalls' that aggregate in these moments, together with potential interventions for the profession to consider in collaboration with policymakers and regulators to improve women's risk resilience.
Insuring Women's Futures is a market initiative established by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) to promote and enhance the profession's role in relation to women and risk. The research coincides with the launch of a market task force, composed of 15 senior executives from across the insurance and financial planning profession, who will prioritise and progress actions to improve financial outcomes for women and the profession's engagement with society. Sian Fisher, CEO of the CII, comments: "We need to act now because if we don't address this, we will not have the resources to sustain the current situation. To help drive this change we have established the Insuring Women's Futures Market Task Force, to work with the profession and collaborate with policymakers to effect innovative and broad change."
OVERWHELMING SHORTFALL
The report is a call to action for the insurance and financial planning profession, government, regulators and society to unite to address the overwhelming shortfall in British women's financial resilience.
The research shows that 100 years after winning the right to vote, women remain profoundly exposed. Modern Britain has not kept up in empowering women's progress in line with their risks in life evolving, while their support systems have receded. A fundamental change in culture, attitude and approach is required through working collaboratively to secure women's, society's and our economy's financial future.
Jane Portas, Women's Risks in Life lead, highlights the importance of the report: "Greater support and a meeting of minds are required to help women to find solutions to risks in life. This includes new ways of educating and engaging, of making financial planning and insurance more relevant and accessible to the many, and there needs to be more emphasis on the 'whole person', recognising there is no one size fits all.
"This report presents an opportunity for the profession, working with policymakers and society, to improve women's risk protection, economic independence and financial resilience, securing the financial future for us all," adds Ms Portas.
RISKS IN LIFE
Through the CII's analysis of young women's risk patterns, it has identified six 'moments that matter' in girls' and women's lives. The moments are pivotal points in life, designed to inform life decisions, to pre-empt and help manage risks that may arise.
While the study shows there are many risks in life, it has identified a number of critical risks of heightened exposure for women, often coinciding with other risks and with potentially life-long consequences. The report calls these '12 perils and pitfalls facing young British women'.