Women represent one-quarter of senior officers in insurance/finance sector: Catalyst

The finance and insurance industry has the fourth-highest percentage of women in senior officer positions, according to a Catalyst Census of the Financial Post 500.Of the 75 firms in the finance and insurance industry listed on the Financial Post 500, 24.3% of senior officers were women. The three industry categories in the survey to have a higher percentage of women represented in senior positions were accommodation and food service (29.7%), public administration (29.1%), and ‘other services’ excluding public administration (26.7%). The ‘other services’ category might include, for example, repair and maintenance and personal care.Overall, women held 6.2% of top earner positions at public companies in 2010, up from 5.6% in 2008, Catalyst reported. The following insurance firms had 25% or more women senior officers:• State Farm Group;• Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation;• Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Company of Canada;• Lloyd’s Underwriters (Canada);• AXA Canada; • Chubb Insurance Company of Canada;• Kingsway Financial Services Inc.;• Insurance Corporation of British Columbia;• Desjardins General Insurance Group; The following insurance firms had zero women senior officers:• Allstate Insurance Company of Canada;• Groupe Promutuel Federation de societes mutuelles d’assurance generale; and• Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc.