Insurance industry veteran Brian Duperreault says unintentional discrimination is holding back women in the insurance industry.

And the Hamilton Insurance Group chief executive officer added that industry leadership must do more to counteract stereotypes and ensure that women get equal opportunities to climb the ladder.

In the opening keynote speech at the Global Women’s Conference of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) in New York, Mr Duperreault said the time for talking was over and CEOs had to lead meaningful change in order for the industry not to lose the female talent it needed.

Mr Duperreault addressed the same issue in a speech at last year’s Bermuda Captive Conference in a speech entitled “Where are all the women?” A year later, he conceded that little had changed.

“I think people in my generation think that generally, the right policies and procedures are in place to counteract bias and discrimination,” Mr Duperreault told around 700 delegates. “But clearly, this isn’t the case.

“While there are impressive women in the C-suite and around board tables, their numbers don’t begin to reflect the reality of the world’s demographics.

“We penalise women who take a break from their careers to bear, birth and raise our children. We judge their intuition and empathy as ‘less than’, and a male’s over confidence and assertiveness as ‘more than’. We default to the familiar when choosing our management teams — still white, male and conservative, in spite of a rapidly diversifying world.

“Most of this inequity is unintentional. Women might challenge that statement. But I know that my peer group genuinely wants to solve the gender parity riddle.”

In the speech, entitled “Where are the women: one year later”, he referred to a PwC report that concluded that women are leaving the insurance industry because they felt firms were not doing enough to promote equality and that the insurers were the least popular employer in the financial services sector among millennials.

“PwC says 80 per cent of the 600 young women surveyed felt that although insurance firms talk about diversity, opportunities aren’t equal for everyone,” Mr Duperreault said.

“Sixty-four per cent of those working in insurance said their employer is not doing enough to encourage diversity.”

He added that the pace of change was much too slow.

“Not surprisingly, we haven’t made much progress,” Mr Duperreault said. “Women are still paid less. There are still too few women on our boards. Our management teams are still homogenous.

“Meanwhile, women are getting fed up waiting for real change and are voting with their feet. This, as our industry, needs these young women — and young men — to help us tackle the disruption that we know is coming.”

Mr Duperreault also cited a two-decade-long study by psychologist Janet Shibley Hyde that found there were no real differences between men and women in terms of cognitive ability, personality or leadership, in contrast to deeply embedded stereotypes.

“In other words, we’ve been primed — by the media, urban legend and other influences — to believe that men and women each have a set of inherent, gender-based behaviours,” Mr Duperreault said.

“And not only have we concluded that there’s typical male/female behaviour, we’ve also decided that one type is preferable to the other. As a result, when women exhibit behaviour that’s judged to be ‘male’ — the type of behaviour that usually gets a man promoted — they’re penalised for going against the gender grain. But they’re also penalised if they adhere to the female stereotype.”

Change can be driven from the top, according to a KPMG study also cited by the Hamilton Group founder, when leaders lead by example.

“When a CEO leaves work early to attend a school assembly or watch a son or daughter’s soccer game, it sends a message that balancing personal and professional commitments is OK — and perhaps more importantly, accepted at the company where you work,” Mr Duperreault said.

Millennials who were pushing for a less regimented and more balanced working life could be instrumental in delivering change, he added.

“Perhaps a workforce that wants to work collaboratively, embraces inclusion and doesn’t adhere to rigid schedules will solve the gender equality issue on its own. It’s likely that the digital generation won’t tolerate the norms that have developed

on an older management’s watch. I think there’s some truth in that.

“But as the head of a growing insurance company who wants and needs talented women, and as someone who’s devoted his career to this industry, I’d like to think I’m going to have a hand in creating a better place for women to work.”

He paid tribute to the women who have helped to shape his life, including his wife Nancy and the nuns who helped to educate him, and promised to “keep beating this drum”.

“I’ll do what I can in my own company to make sure gender equality stays on the agenda, and I’ll take advantage of the offers I get to speak at forums like this one to keep the issue at the forefront,” Mr Duperreault said.

“It’s the right thing to do, and if I’ve learned anything over the past 40 years in this industry, you never go wrong by doing the right thing.”

Other speakers at the IICF conference included Inga Beale, CEO at Lloyd’s, Mario Vitale, CEO of Aspen Insurance, and Chris Swift, CEO of The Hartford.