Despite being a much talked about the gender movement in society, it is not a much-discussed topic in the insurance industry.

Gender is an important parameter in both, insurance pricing and coverage. This is because there is a studied and verified relationship between gender and attitude towards risk. Women tend to systematically overestimate the risk of any type, while men underestimate it. This pattern has been observed regardless of the context and it happens in varied situations as crossing the street, investing in assets, smoking or doing extreme sports. Regarding the risks associated with driving, it is known that male drivers respect the rules less frequently. That is why in car insurance the frequency and especially the damage caused by male drivers is much higher than that of female drivers.

Based on data from three insurers in the last 3 years

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The appearance of gender as a perception creates an immense challenge for the industry. In Argentina, the case of a citizen who managed a gender change in the Home-office Ministry with the sole objective of accessing retirement 5 years earlier than stipulated for men made headlines. As long as there are no clear rules regarding how to determine a person's gender for the purposes of deciding the insurance premium and its coverage, situations may arise in which insurers commit discriminatory acts, with the respective exposure to lawsuits, or the insured take advantage of this legal loophole to pay less.

 

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In some countries, gender pricing is forbidden

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