Today, March 8, is International Women's Day!
We celebrate women's achievements and lives throughout society on National Women's Day, and for good reason! Women have been involved in every aspect of society, and there will be blogs written across the internet today talking about many of them.
Insurance is no different! Here at United Insurance Agencies, 2 of the Vice President's are women. We have great saleswomen that bring in many clients on both the commercial and personal side. We love and respect our women here so much.
Women have been important throughout insurance and I'd be typing all day if I went into all of them, so today's blog will be about a woman that started a life insurance company all the way back in 1892!
Sabina, or just Bina, West Miller was born in 1867. Like most people in insurance today, she didn't think she would be in insurance and started out as a school teacher. As a school teacher, Bina would see students lose their mothers and then those students would be put into foster homes because their fathers could no longer care for their children. Life insurance companies at the time would not write life insurance for women because of the high mortality rate due to childbirth.
Bina saw a need and knew she needed to fill it. She joined with a fraternal organization called The Knights of the Maccabees. Then, like today, it was easier to spread risk within a closed or semi closed group (think about your life insurance through work) so having the Knights as the framework for the group made sense to her, and having more members made sense to the Knights. By being under the umbrella of the Knights, she was not only able to provide life insurance but wellness programs and a support network. Life insurance companies still do this today, check with your life insurance agent to see what other benefits you may not be using!
Bina officially began her life insurance, at the time called The Women’s Benefit Association of the Maccabees, on October 1, 1892 and paid out their first claim on September 25, 1893. The company is still going and growing today! It now goes by the name Women's Life and still makes it their mission remains insuring women for the good of families.
Happy International Women's Day and I hope you enjoyed learning a little about a woman that worked for women to improve women's lives.