Closing the Gender Protection Gap in Brazil Starts with Better Data

When disaster strikes a farm, a small business, or a family, insurance can be the buffer that keeps a shock from turning into a crisis. New data from Brazil shows that women are less likely to have access to this protection than men. For example, for accident and health insurance, the gap is 15 percentage points: men account for 46% of insured policyholders for which data is available, while women represent only 31%. Although Brazil’s latest census reports 6 million more women than men nationwide, women remain underrepresented across all insurance sectors—both as primary policyholders and covered dependents.

This matters because women face greater structural barriers to absorbing shocks. They are more likely to have fewer emergency savings and a smaller safety net – not by chance, but due to restricted access to assets – and disasters and climate-related events hit them especially hard. When a health problem arises, or an unexpected financial loss occurs without insurance protection, the consequences fall disproportionately on women and, by extension, on their children and households. This in turn affects their long-term prosperity and security. Yet around the world, gender gaps in insurance remain poorly measured. And what is not measured is difficult to fix. Brazil's experience shows that stronger, more standardized data is the essential first step toward closing those gaps. 

Measuring the gendered protection gap in Brazil

Brazil has taken a notable step in this direction. SUSEP, the country's insurance authority, piloted mandatory collection of gender-disaggregated data using A2ii’s FeMa-Meter tool, whereby 142 insurers operating across life, property and casualty, composite, and specialized lines shared their data. That data sharing step alone is progress: Brazil is among a small but growing group of insurance authorities that have succeeded in collecting gender-disaggregated data.  

The exercise revealed, however, that much work remains to be done to improve the quality, consistency, and accuracy of the data. About three in four insurers said they do collect gender-disaggregated data, yet confidence in it is low: roughly half of them were not sure the data was accurate. The raw material exists, in other words, but accurate data collection still requires real investment in standardization, mandatory collection rules, validation, and comparable practices across companies.  

Where the data is solid enough to draw conclusions, the picture is not encouraging. A gender gap shows up across every risk category examined: accident and health, life and savings, small business, and climate and agriculture. In each one, women hold fewer policies and are covered less often than men, whether counted by policyholder or by person insured. The gap is widest in climate and agriculture, which is worth pausing on, since this is exactly the kind of protection that matters most as extreme weather events grow more frequent and more damaging to livelihoods. 

Graph: Percentage of policyholders by gender for the accident and health risk category, December 2025 (Source: SUSEP)

The gap also shows up after a policy is purchased. In three of the four risk categories, the average claim paid to men was higher than the average paid to women. Lower payouts result in weaker capacity to bounce back after a shock. The underlying reasons for the discrepancy may reflect differences in purchasing profiles, income, insured value, product type, or level of coverage. It may also suggest that women tend to hold lower-value policies or carry lower levels of insured exposure to begin with.  

Insights raise authorities' awareness and highlight opportunities for insurers

Collecting this data only matters if it leads to action, and there are early signs that it will. SUSEP plans to publish its FeMa-Meter findings to encourage insurers to expand coverage for women, and it intends to repeat the data collection every two years so progress can be tracked over time.  Other supervisors in the region offer useful points of comparison. In Costa Rica, SUGESE, the insurance authority, applied the FeMa-Meter on a mandatory basis in 2024 across all 12 of the country's insurers, gathering data on both insurance access and use and on organizational diversity within firms. SUGESE reported that the exercise succeeded in raising insurers’ awareness of the importance of collecting this type of data to better understand their market. The regulator now plans to make its collection a formal requirement. 

Better data on gender gaps can spur the industry itself to act and see market opportunities. In Guatemala, the supervisor SIB collected data voluntarily from just six insurers, mostly ones already focused on financial inclusion. Even with that small, self-selected group, participants said the insights helped them identify opportunities for new products tailored by age and gender. Several went on to register new health insurance plans designed specifically for women. These included specific coverage for breast cancer, psychological support in cases of sexual violence, and additional services, such as preventive consultations, psychology, nutrition, and legal assistance. In Argentina, where the FeMa-Meter was piloted in 2023, the insurer Rio Uruguay Seguros, which focuses on underserved groups, used the findings to expand what it offers to women.

Insights on organizational diversity also deserve the authorities’ attention, since leadership can have a significant impact on what products get built, how they are distributed, and what strategic priorities a company sets. FeMa-Meter findings from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Guatemala show a consistent pattern: women make up the majority of the insurance industry's workforce but remain underrepresented in leadership. In Brazil, women account for 54% of the workforce and 57% of licensed agents, yet hold only 18% of board seats and 28% of strategic leadership positions. Authorities in other jurisdictions have responded to this kind of pattern by requiring insurers to comply with corporate governance codes aimed at more balanced organizations.  

Using these insights to reduce the gender gap in insurance coverage  

The pattern found in Brazil is not unique to that country. Across Latin America, and in most of the rest of the world, a gendered protection gap persists in access and use of insurance and in the organizational diversity of the companies that provide it.

For insurance authorities, the takeaway is straightforward: standardizing the collection and use of gender-disaggregated data is a necessary foundation for taking regulatory action and for creating real incentives for the industry to perform more equitably. For insurers, the opportunity is just as real. More granular data on where the gaps lie, and on how well an organization is positioned to understand and serve women policyholders, can shape both regulatory priorities and business strategy. The data needed to start closing this gap is beginning to exist. What is needed now is the follow-through – from regulators and insurers alike – to put it to use.  The inclusive insurance sector now needs robust, comprehensive indicators for meaningful monitoring and continuous improvement—an effort CGAP is advancing through a dedicated task force.