NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

<i>Nick Smith</i>: The score: Boy racers 1, women 0

NZ Herald
31 Mar, 2011 08:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Writer Nick Smith believes the EU's effort to stem insurance policy discrimination may be good news for male drivers, but, does little in terms of dealing with disparities between costs to men and women. Photo / Thinkstock

Writer Nick Smith believes the EU's effort to stem insurance policy discrimination may be good news for male drivers, but, does little in terms of dealing with disparities between costs to men and women. Photo / Thinkstock

Opinion by

Testosterone-fuelled drivers will benefit from bid to erase gender inequality.

Conservative knickers - which, I'm reliably informed, tend to the racy rather than the sensible - are in a twist. Infernal activist judges, as the knicker-twisters like to call them, now say there can be no commercial discrimination based on gender.

This means that from the end of next year,
European and British insurance companies can no longer charge higher premiums to young male drivers, who tend to have more accidents than older men and women, because of the young's distressing habit of driving dangerously fast.

And blokes now won't pay more for life insurance - a form of discrimination based on older men's deplorable tendency to drop dead when ill-health strikes (women take note: Manflu kills). Women are likely to live on and on, even when hit with a life-threatening calamity, and charges reflect that.

But women's longevity cuts the other way too: they often receive smaller pensions than men, or have to pay more for them. They also pay more for health insurance because, on average, women cost the health system more.

No longer. Once the European Court of Justice ruling takes effect, premiums for car insurance and retirement products will be most affected, because that's where the statistics paint the clearest picture of gender disparity.

A few calls to New Zealand insurance reps reveal no such plans are afoot in Godzone. The Human Rights Act ensures insurance companies cannot deny coverage based on risk profile but they can charge more to some, less to others.

So women in NZ pay more than men for income protection cover because, say the insurance companies, they make more mental health and stress-related claims.

Then again, middle-aged, chain-smoking, hard-drinking journalists of cliche, such as me, fork out usurious amounts on life insurance each month.

I'm not complaining. But this month I think it would be nice to live in Europe.

A blow for gender equality, you might think. Not if you're a young woman struggling to meet your bills and are hit with a hike in car insurance.

Nor if you're a knicker-twister writing commentary for the English press, where the decision has been described as "asinine," "utter madness" and, my favourite, "political correctness gone mad". Is there any other kind?

Most of the commentators are men, who stand to gain more from the ruling, according to some calculations. This supports many women's contention that men are a bit thick.

Cynics (meaning the two insurance people I spoke to) say the decision is likely to lead to higher premiums overall because companies will manipulate things so women pay much more for car and life insurance and men slightly less, providing a bigger margin across all products.

Perhaps we can call this scenario political capitalism gone mad (PCGM). Except that success in manipulating regulations for commercial advantage is usually called business acumen, not PCGM.

But this really is gender discrimination. Women do deserve to pay much less for their better driving record - and ability to withstand Manflu.

Having fun or, as the dismal insurance trade describes it, risky behaviour, also deserves its due: higher fees, but if you survive the male rites of passage, lower health insurance costs. Huzzah.

Nobody comes out of this well: the judges (misguided), the insurance companies (rapacious) and the commentariat (stupid).

I can only applaud the sentiment behind addressing iniquity based on a person's sex. But this judgment actually increases the financial burden on women and does nothing about a much greater source of financial discrimination - the cost of childcare.

Discover more

New Zealand

Insurance companies quiz customers on sex-life secrets

02 Apr 03:00 PM
Opinion

<i>Deborah Coddington</i>: True gender equality still a mirage in modern day NZ

17 Jul 04:00 PM
Opinion

<i>All in a day's work: </i> A woman's place?

14 Nov 08:30 PM
Employment

NZ women doing well but could be better - report

16 Dec 10:19 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Business

Entertainment

Amazon delivery driver caught masturbating in NZ awardee's home

Premium
Shares

Market close: NZX steady as Eroad rallies on road user charge changes

New Zealand

Run the Forest to showcase Rotorua to thousands of visitors


Sponsored

Global real estate without the passport or paperwork

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Amazon delivery driver caught masturbating in NZ awardee's home
Entertainment

Amazon delivery driver caught masturbating in NZ awardee's home

The woman was shocked to find the man inside her bedroom with his hands in his shorts.

07 Aug 07:20 AM
Premium
Premium
Market close: NZX steady as Eroad rallies on road user charge changes
Shares

Market close: NZX steady as Eroad rallies on road user charge changes

07 Aug 06:15 AM
Run the Forest to showcase Rotorua to thousands of visitors
New Zealand

Run the Forest to showcase Rotorua to thousands of visitors

07 Aug 06:00 AM


Global real estate without the passport or paperwork
Sponsored

Global real estate without the passport or paperwork

05 Aug 11:43 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP