Ms. Canter, who has been with Patterson-Smith for 21 years, said she started out 29 years ago as “one of the very few women in sales.” Although agencies have always been female-oriented “in the sense that many of the people who worked in the agencies were women,” she noted, “I would say there have been incredible changes for women over those 29 years.”

IIAAs Future One “Agency Universe Study for 2000″ found that 33 percent of agencies employ women as principals (26 percent have both men and women principals and 7 percent have women only). The study also found that 58 percent of agencies with more than one producer have one or more women in that position–an increase of 13 percentage points, up from 45 percent in 1996.

“It has not been a quick or easy process,” Ms. Canter said, adding that the proverbial “work twice as hard” refrain is often the case.

One development that has helped women are the opportunities for jobs and training in the industry, which “women recognize and want,” she added.

Women are willing to take advantage of those opportunities now because “there is not the sense of anything holding them back,” explained Ms. Canter. If anything discourage them from moving up in an agency, “its their own perception more than anything else,” she added.

In the agency ranks, Ms. Canter noted, “if you can sell and bring in commission dollars, the sky is the limit. From an agency principals viewpoint it gets down to the bottom line and thats how women will succeed more and more.”

At the same time, women have much to offer. “Theyre more detail-oriented, more relationship-oriented and they relate well to clients,” Ms. Canter said.

Something that women could do more of, Ms. Canter suggested, is network. An agents association “can be very helpful,” in terms of meeting and getting to know insurance company people, she said.

“Women havent taken as much advantage of this type of thing as men, but theyre starting to,” Ms. Canter observed. “In the past they may not have felt as comfortable as they do now. But as they move into positions where they have more authority there is the feeling that they do belong, and they have more freedom to participate.”

Danielle Duerr, owner of Danielle Duerr & Associates in Darien, Ill., who started her own agency in 1996, said she did so because most agency owners she knew either “were not as progressive as I felt I would like to be,” or had inherited the agency, “which today is about the only way you can actually have an agency and get the contracts you need.”

Ms. Duerr was able to start her agency, even though insurers typically “do not give the contracts to an individual just starting from zero” because of her years in the business and the contacts she had built up in the insurance industry. Her agency, which is 80 percent commercial property, has two full-time employees and one part-time, she said.

Throughout her career, Ms. Duerr said, “I have never felt that being a woman was a drawback for me.” If anything, being a woman in the insurance industry has been an advantage, she added. For example, she said, if she were competing against several men for a job, it would be more likely she would be listened to initially.

“They say, Lets see if she has any brains, and they listen very closely to what I say,” Ms. Duerr explained. “If I can get them to listen, I have it made.”

Ms. Duerr expressed the same opinion as Ms. Canter, saying that women could help themselves by doing more networking and getting organized.

“Men have their Lions clubs and other organizations, which were established by men and [are] attended by men,” she said. “I believe it is the matter of a couple of [women] organizing and then motivating other women to attend.”

Darlene Penfold, principal of Penfold-Leavitt Insurance Agency, Inc., an “all lines insurance agency with no specialty” in Eureka, Calif., said she started out from scratch in 1979 as the owner of an independent insurance agency, and in 1999 affiliated with the Leavitt group.

“I startedwith nothing,” she said. “It was a tough row to hoe, but I hit the deck running and didnt stop.”

The notion of things being more difficult for women “is a misnomer,” Ms. Penfold said. “Some people use that as an excuse. If you get out there and work and hustle,” writing business is no more difficult than it is “for a man in my situation,” she added.

“One of the issues I have is that in our society were trained to think women have it tougher because theyre the weaker sex and that its easier in business for men,” Ms. Penfold observed. “If you work hard and your try to do things right, the business will follow.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 29, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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