Stella Insurance, which specialises in cover tailored for women, says it will partner with Zurich to distribute life insurance in Australia from January.

Stella founder and CEO, UK-based entrepreneur Sam White, told insuranceNEWS.com.au the product aims to "fill some of the holes in the market around what women need from their insurance”.

Stella launched in Australia in 2020 focused on motor cover, and has expanded into travel and pet insurance, and also broking.

Ms White says life customers will have access to an app providing support around key issues for women.

“We’ve got a great global relationship with Zurich, and they’re equally passionate about designing products that are female-specific,” she said.

“We’re finding issues like the menopause, fertility, endometriosis, divorce – those issues aren’t very well dealt with by the current set of insurance products, and the rate of suicide in women around menopause is worryingly high.

“On a general basis, underwriters will consider that menopause is not something that you can insure against, because everybody goes through it, but obviously the degree with which one woman suffers can be very different to another.

“It’s about having the right kinds of conversations with customers, as much as anything, so they can feel comfortable to raise some of these problems and just really feel supported by their insurance provider during what can be quite a challenging period of time.”

Ms White says take-up of life insurance among women is lower than it should be, and believes the world of financial services can be intimidating. She says the product will launch with the “bespoke app” and innovation will continue “in areas the existing cover can be improved upon”.

Ms White believes the much talked about “backlash” against diversity and inclusion is less prevalent in Australia than the UK.

“I've always felt that Australia is a much younger country and, as such, seems to be more open to things moving in a positive direction from a diversity and inclusion perspective,” she told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“But I think there's a fear at the moment that DEI has started to get a bit of a tarnished image, which is a real shame.

“There is a lot of polarisation, which doesn't need to be there. Fundamentally, we should all want the same thing, which is that we're all treated with respect, and that everybody's open and curious about each other's perspective.”

Zurich’s head of retail Australia and New Zealand Tim Kane said the insurer is looking forward to the partnership's launch.

“Recent Zurich research found that one in two females do not have life insurance, versus one in three males,” he said.

“We’re excited to be working with Stella to offer solutions to the unique protection needs facing women, with a goal of ultimately closing this protection gap.”