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This International Women’s Day, Cate DelaCruz, Senior Director of Analytics, and Sheila Ngu, Operations Analyst at Protecdiv, share their thoughts on what IWD means to them, the role of women in the insurance market, and the need for the industry to keep pushing for more diversity.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is in Protecdiv’s DNA. Protecdiv was founded with the motivation of creating the  of establishing the most diverse company in the global insurance and reinsurance market. Diversity is a major strength and an integral part of our business.

When we think of the word ‘diversity’ we imagine a virtual and physical workspace that includes  people from different backgrounds, cultures, and genders. While these are an essential element of what diversity means, it is only part of the story.  Only when we push for diversity to also include diversity of thought can true innovation and growth be possible.

The success of diversity of thought is an obvious one. For example, if a problem is presented to a work group and everyone  thinks in the same way, then only slight variations of exactly the same solution will be considered. However, by bringing together a truly diverse group, a truly representative solution can be reached.

Women in leadership roles

There has been much discussion about the need for more diversity in the insurance market, and as we reflect on that thought on International Women’s Day, our attention turns to a certain type of inequality we are still seeing. There are still not enough women in senior leadership roles. In particular, there is a lack of women in P&L roles, with many women who do hold senior positions tending to be in HR, Legal, and Diversity roles. This year, we are calling for people to #breakthebias on this view and push for more women to be in positions where they are leading profit centers.

Pushing beyond the internal make-up of a business

A lot of the talk about DEI has focussed on the internal side of the business – who people are hiring and promoting. While this still needs to be addressed, there is another element of diversity which we don’t talk about enough, diversity in the products and services we are offering clients and customers. The insurance and reinsurance markets are global, but still our product offering doesn’t always reflect the global customer base we serve. There is still a hugely untapped, under-represented part of the market who need insurance, and as an innovative business, we need to be making sure we are serving the people who need us most. Isn’t that what insurance was created to do?

At Protecdiv, we are striving to be more innovative and representative of our customer and client demographic. Our perspective is to improve society

through insurance, whether that is by the company being a role model to other minorities, or through the products and services we offer catering to diverse clientele. It is time to break through the glass ceiling we present in the market. We feel a duty to expand the prevailing definition of DEI, for all intents and purposes – it is a fundamental part of everything we do if we truly are to #breakthebias.