International Women’s Day 2025
Catherine Trimble
Head of intermediary distribution for protection
Do you have a plan? I don’t even have a “pla”?
In this first article, Catherine Trimble at Scottish Widows discusses the importance of women having the right level of cover in place and making sure they prioritise their financial resilience.
Women are still vastly under insured
In recent years, the conversation around gender gaps has expanded beyond pay and pensions to include the critical area of protection. As we continue to support International Women’s Day, Scottish Widows is championing an increase in engagement with women clients to emphasise the importance of having the right level of cover in place. This article explores why protection is so vital for women, using recent Scottish Widows research to highlight the gaps and the need to #accelerateaction.
Women aren’t equal to men
Controversially, this is still true. Women are generally less prepared for financial emergencies than men. This lack of a “Plan B” can leave them vulnerable to sudden financial shocks. 1 in 5 people (22%) don’t have enough savings to cope with a financial emergency. This figure rises to almost 1 in 4 for women. When you then look at the women surveyed without sufficient savings, 24% also had no protection in place. This double vulnerability stresses the need for women to be empowered, take action and make themselves less susceptible to financial shocks.
Despite this, women do worry about financial security. Our research showed that over half (61%) of women are concerned about the loss of income due to illness or injury and even more have concerns over having a limited financial cushion, 35% of women could not afford to support their household beyond three months without an income.
Most alarmingly, 1 in 10 women (9%) wouldn’t be able to support their household at all in the event of income loss highlighting the urgent need for better financial planning and protection.
These fears are well-founded.
So, what is stopping women taking out protection for themselves?
One of the main reasons women do not have income protection is that it is not seen as a priority. It is no secret women are leading busier lives than ever before and protection is not always at the top of people’s priority lists, 32% of women without any income protection stated that it just wasn’t a priority for them at the moment.
Women aren’t always great at prioritising themselves, they’ll put their families first but in doing so can miss the true benefit income protection can bring to them.
Only 7% of women currently have an income protection policy however 56% of women surveyed are paying to protect their home contents, 24% are paying for insurance for their pet and 53% of them are paying for Netflix or other streaming services for them and their family.
But ultimately, lack of understanding seems to play the final part, 14% of the women surveyed didn’t understand what income protection was and 8% thought income protection is too complicated to arrange.
Traditionally, women have not taken measures to seek out financial advice. This could be because they do not see the need for it but also because they cannot relate to what they see as a typical financial adviser.
A woman in her early 20s, just starting on a career path, might not think to see a financial adviser, however, according to our research, older women don’t either. 43% of women surveyed had never consulted/sought advice from concerning any form of protection.
So, if they are not coming to us, then we need to go to them
Women are more likely to have sought out a recommendation from a friend or family member than proactively seek out a financial adviser, so we need to keep pushing the good news stories to make sure it reaches all women, as referrals are the best way to grow your business too.
Given the need for women to take out protection, the industry needs to get smarter at targeting them. There are pivotal points in life where risks can change. They include entering and re-entering the workplace; starting and ending a relationship; motherhood and caring; and ill-health and dying.
It is our jobs as both providers and advisers to provide simple, clear advice that is easy for consumers to understand.
In the next article, we will look at what women want from advisers and how we can help them see the value of protection.