‘Aya Surakina AIA’ moving the needle on gender equality with the launch of the Gender Sensitivity Training programme – an industry first in Sri Lanka

AIA Insurance recently completed the initial phase of the Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) offered by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – under the IFC-DFAT Women in Work programme. This training is a strategic component of the women’s insurance programme – ‘Aya Surakina AIA’. It is an agile mechanism by which AIA builds a gender-sensitive workforce while engaging women in the workforce and creating opportunities for them. The programme specifically engages women in the insurance industry of Sri Lanka, providing them with training, learning and career opportunities.

Gender equality is not only a social and moral imperative but an economic necessity as well. According to the IFC, AXA Group, and Accenture, SheForShield report 2015, the potential global women’s insurance market represents a $1.7 trillion opportunity by 2030, with 50 percent of this opportunity coming from emerging markets such as Sri Lanka. It is crucial that leading companies such as AIA focus their energies to bring greater inclusivity to the market. There is a significant underrepresentation of women in the workforce and ensuring that more women join the workforce as entrepreneurs, and employees will add significant value to the Sri Lankan economy.

A highly interactive workshop with the business case on why women are a valuable market segment in insurance, this programme enabled AIA’s management to assess their biases and behaviours as well as understand skills that would foster a gender-equal culture. This training is one of the key initiations of AIA Academy for 2022.