Do your female members have the life insurance they need?
To increase their ownership, focus on their multi-faceted identities
Women in the US are much less likely to have life insurance than men. According to 2022 research from LIMRA, 47% of US women aged 18-75 own life insurance compared to 58% of men. Information from the U.S. Census suggests that roughly 57 million women need life insurance vs. approximately 51 million men, with need being defined as either having no or not enough life insurance.
Life Insurance Awareness Month in September is a perfect time for credit unions to address this gap. However, don’t view your female members as a single homogenous group or you’ll miss key opportunities to understand and serve them.
Why You Need to Dig Deeper
While it might seem logical to focus on gender-centric issues to convince women to investigate and purchase life insurance, your credit union may need to go deeper. Your members are complex, multi-faceted individuals with needs and decisions influenced by a variety of factors. This point was strongly reinforced by CUNA Mutual Group’s research on multicultural, multigenerational consumers. As one survey participant eloquently stated, “I’m not just a woman. I’m not just Black. I’m not just one thing. All parts of my life intersect to make me who I am, and all those parts are important to how and why I do things.”
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