With International Women’s Day being celebrated around the world one week ago, the insurance sector - like many others – has been reflecting on the progress it has made towards establishing equal opportunities and identifying areas that still need to see change.
Gallagher Bassett’s people and culture manager Gabrielle Cook joined the insurance industry only three years ago, but she says she has seen a noticeable shift in equal opportunities over the course of her career across various sectors - particularly when it comes to allowing career breaks, which she says often stalled the careers of women who didn’t have the means to pay for childcare.
Cook joined Gallagher Bassett after having spent time in consumer credit, HR and the public sector, and she says that when she started her own family in the early 2000s, a career break was inevitable, as the kind of support available now was simply not around.
“Childcare is becoming so much more balanced between parents these days, which is great to hear about - but the reality is that women are often still the primary caregiver, and that’s often at the expense of their career,” Cook told Insurance Business.
“There are real lifestyle decisions that families need to make,” she explained.
“I made a decision early on to take that career break, and that’s something I genuinely wanted to do. I was out of the workforce for about eight years in the early 2000s, and it made financial sense for me to be at home rather than have to take on the cost of daycare. There was no paid parental leave in those days, and no guarantee that your job would be kept!
“That meant that when the time was right for me to re-enter the workplace, I really had to re-set my career goals and expectations.”
Cook said that once she returned to work, she found herself having to make up for lost time, and striking the right balance was difficult. However, she says maternity leave policies have evolved significantly since then - something which has been a huge financial help to families, and has helped women keep their careers on track.
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“I started my career as a public servant in the 1990s, and, at that time, equal employment policies were really in their infancy,” Cook said. “I’ve seen them really change and grow throughout my career, and this industry has really been made better because of that.”
“There’s been a massive shift in the opportunities available for women who do take that career break - they can now take six months of paid leave, which is outstanding,” she said.
“It really takes the financial pressure off, and gives you the knowledge that you’re able to re-enter the workforce after that time.”
“If you want to take it slower and come back to work for a few hours a day, you can absolutely do that now too, which I think has been a big stride forward,” she added. “But you need to really weigh up what’s important to you, and seek out the opportunity for growth in all parts of your life.”
