Empower Women To Protect Their Incomes

By Jill Frohardt

Years from now, when we look back on 2017, many will remember it as the year the conversation shifted around gender inequality. Last year, women from all walks of life amplified the national conversation around pay discrepancies and fewer advancement opportunities when compared with their male peers.

This momentum about women and the workplace has been great on many fronts. However, there is another gender discrepancy that many in our industry aren’t addressing: the opportunity to work with female clients to properly protect their income.

Advances in educational and professional achievements

Traditionally, male clients are approached more often than female clients about income protection — including products like individual disability insurance. This could be due to several misconceptions around women’s roles in providing for their families and status in the workplace.

Americans today still place a higher worth on a man’s role as financial provider. Even though in one-third of marriages women bring in half or more of the earnings, 71 percent of adults say it is very important for a man to be able to support a family. But recent statistics cast new light on how Generation X and millennial women are breaking barriers around educational attainment and professional development.

According to Pew Research Center, Gen X women were the first generation to outpace men in terms of educational achievement, with Gen X women being 3 percent more likely than men to have attained a bachelor’s degree.  In 2017, millennial women ages 21 to 36 were 7 percent more likely than men to have finished at least a bachelor’s degree (36 percent versus 29 percent).

Not only that, women have continued to become a larger part of the workforce year after year. Today, 71 percent of young millennial women are employed. According to Pew, this shift of more women in the workplace started occurring almost 30 years ago with the baby boomer generation. At that point, nearly 7 in 10 young baby boomer women (66 percent) were employed.

And these trends show no signs of slowing. Because of this, it’s important for us as an industry to consider how we can overcome these misperceptions and find ways to connect with female clients about taking steps to protect their income.

The importance of income protection

As part of your strategy for Disability Insurance Awareness Month this year, consider how you can connect with women about making their income protection needs a priority. Here are a few ways you can bring up the need for IDI with them.

Discuss the importance of overall income protection

Many clients — regardless of gender — haven’t thought about how an injury or illness could impact their ability to earn a living. While many women may think they have adequate income protection from other sources, such as long-term disability insurance or personal savings, many haven’t thought about how a serious illness or injury could impact their ability to earn an income and make ends meet. Discussing the income sources a client would tap into when facing a serious health condition, as well as considering their overall expenses, can help put the need for IDI in context.

Position it as a way to care for family

Female clients – especially those who have children - tend to make decisions from a more emotional place. Many of these women might not have thought about how their lifestyle and family’s needs would be met should they not be able to earn an income. Showcasing how a client’s income stream could be affected if she were to face a serious health condition can help emphasize how important her income is to her family and way of life.

Showcase how it can help clients plan for the future

Women often think of themselves last. Although their needs often take a backseat to those of their career or family, it’s important for you to discuss how they need to think of themselves first in this example. Emphasize the importance of putting themselves first by protecting their income, and how other priorities can fall in line from there.

Helping women take control of their financial lives is long overdue. By bringing up the need for income protection coverage, you can help them take control of their financial future.

 Jill Frohardt, REBC, is a regional director of individual disability insurance for The Standard. Jill may be contacted at [email protected].

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