The gender divide

Of all the wonderful things the UK has to thank Europe for - Joseph Conrad, Jean-Paul Belmondo, the Englightenment and croissants - perhaps the most significant to the protection industry is the European Union's recent Equal Treatment Directive. It means insurers can no longer assess premiums on the grounds of gender unless it can be proven that being male or female is a decisive factor in the risk being carried by the provider. For example, it is inarguable that men are less susceptible to breast cancer than women - current figures show male breast cancer accounts for just 1% of cases ...