By DITA DE BONI
One more bastion of male dominance looks likely to fall with survey findings that women are buying more health and life insurance than men.
Life insurance has traditionally been taken on the life of a family's male "breadwinner", but with more women "breadwinning" for both themselves and their
families, their life insurance policies will soon surpass men's, according to research by ACNielsen.
About 46 per cent of women in paid employment hold life insurance, compared with 48 per cent of men.
Almost 40 per cent of women in paid employment also hold health insurance, outstripping the 34 per cent of men.
Women make up half the workforce and earn, on average, just two-thirds as much as their male counterparts, but 13 per cent of women take out income protection insurance compared with 17 per cent of men.
Sovereign Insurance head of operations Jo Hutchinson said the elevation of women to top jobs, as well as a sizeable number who were solo mothers or a family's main breadwinner, meant it was "logical to expect income protection to take priority".
The increasing number of women starting businesses had also compelled many to insure their income.
Life insurance trends had also moved with the times.
"It wasn't until the 1970s that the stringent prerequisites women had to meet to gain life insurance were relaxed - being a mum with kids at home was not considered work," said Jo Hutchinson.
