Women account for roughly two-thirds of Canada’s insurance workforce but remain heavily underrepresented in the jobs that decide strategy, capital and culture, data supported by ISC Group shows.
According to the EY Women in Insurance Study 2025, backed by ISC Group, women hold 66% of “general roles” across the Canadian insurance sector, yet occupy only 25% of vice‑president positions and just 18% of senior vice‑president roles. At the very top, only seven of Canada’s 100 largest publicly traded companies have a female CEO.
“In Canada, the underrepresentation of women at senior levels in insurance reflects a global pattern,” said Kathy McLay, ISC Group’s account director for Canada. “Despite this, women make up 66% of general roles across the Canadian insurance sector.”
The Canadian numbers are not an outlier. In the UK, the 2025 KPMG Women Leaders Review finds women now hold 30% of executive committee roles – progress, but still short of parity – and only 16% of CEO positions. Many firms continue to struggle with “sustainable pipelines” into the very top jobs.
“This is a global challenge best addressed through international collaboration and shared learning,” McLay said.
Behind the headline numbers, ISC sees a familiar mix of structural and cultural barriers. McLay cites limited visibility and mentorship, confidence gaps in male‑dominated environments, and the disproportionate burden of caregiving as ongoing obstacles to progression.
“Women remain underrepresented in VP and Senior VP roles, with representation declining further at higher levels,” she said, pointing to the seven‑in‑100 CEO figure. Those patterns, she argued, are reinforced when talented women are not seen, sponsored or supported into stretch roles at the right time.
McLay also emphasizes that not all obstacles are external. “As women, we sometimes feel the need to tick every box before stepping forward,” she said. “This perfectionism and self‑doubt can hold us back from seizing opportunities.” Alongside systemic change, she argues, women need to invest in themselves – building confidence, prioritizing networking and seeking out communities that provide guidance, mentoring and peer support.
ISC is clear that culture change cannot be left to women alone or treated as an HR side project. “True culture change will only happen if men and women work together,” McLay said. “It needs a collaborative effort right across the industry.”
In the UK and EU, ISC already works with male and female ambassadors who commit to championing gender balance. In Canada, 11 ambassadors – senior leaders drawn from EY, Applied Systems, CNA, Navacord, Aviva Canada, Travelers, Wawanesa, the Insurance Bureau of Canada and others – are tasked with opening networks, raising awareness, recruiting corporate partners and feeding market insight back into ISC’s programmes.
“Ambassadors are a vital conduit for accelerating change across the world,” McLay said. They also contribute to initiatives such as mentorship and coaching, acting as visible sponsors and connectors. Over time, ISC wants to expand this model into more regions “as we accelerate momentum for sustainable culture change worldwide.”
For Canadian insurers, the question is how to move gender balance from a values statement to a line‑management accountability. McLay argues that leaders need to treat it as a shared business responsibility, not a standalone diversity initiative.
“Canadian leaders can embed gender balance into daily business by making it a shared responsibility, not just an HR goal,” she said. That means setting clear targets, tracking progress, and making sure hiring and promotion processes value potential as well as experience. Sponsorship – where senior leaders actively back specific women for advancement – is critical to creating visible pathways and signalling that leadership potential is recognised and nurtured.
ISC encourages organizations to:
At the same time, McLay sees ISC’s role as pushing mindsets as well as mechanics. The group works to “challenge legacy assumptions” about what leadership looks like, create spaces where women and men can collaborate to remove barriers, and “highlight success stories” that show what is possible.
By promoting gender balance and embedding inclusive practices into everyday decisions, she argues, Canadian insurers can both tap into the full breadth of their talent pool and reflect the diversity of the customers they serve – turning what has long been treated as a compliance topic into a driver of performance and growth.
