Are insurance firms fair to the fairer sex?

NEW DELHI: They have conquered many a male bastion whether it is driving an Auto-Rickshaw or playing a role in the armed forces. Women, in India, however have little option when it comes to taking an insurance cover.

As a matter of fact, in a country where there are 930womenper 1000 men, Bajaj Allianz is the only company which offers insurance policies exclusively designed for women.

Recently, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) withdrew Jeevan Bharathi 1, a policy for women. "The policy wasn't popular. It didn't sell enough. So we withdrew it. We'll bring out a new policy soon", Says Devraj Kashyap, Development officer at LIC.

However, Vinit Vidyarthi, Principal Officer at Almondz Insurance brokers Ltd, says, "Jeevan Bharthi didn't do well because it was not pushed well by LIC."

A Commonwealth Fund report 'Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap', by researchers at the National Woman's Law Centre, says that women are at a disadvantage because they have greater health care needs and lower incomes than men.

"Yes, We don't have policies that are exclusively for women. But we understand that Women are equally at risk due to modern urban lifestyle," Says Soumi Rao, Manager of Public Relations at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

"While most of the health risks women face are similar to men and hence the coverage required is similar, they are at higher risk for cancer and hence could look at buying cancer protection," he adds.