Huntsville gazette., 1892-09-17
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WOMEN And LIFE INSURANCE.

Why tho Companies Do Not Care to Issue
Policies to Them.
If it were not for women the business
of the life insurance companies, not
only of this country but of the world
over, would be of so small dimensions
that it certainly would not be attrac-
tive to capital. 1t can not be denied
that the prime motive of the man who
insures his life either for large or
small amount is the laudable wish to
place the women and children depend
ing on his exertions beyond immediate
want in case of his taking off. There
are, of course, exceptions to this rule,
where policies are held for purely busi-
ness reasons. but it is safe to say that
more than seventy-fve per cent. of the
life insurance held in America is for the
sole benefit of women. One might,
therefore, be pardoned for supposing
that as the gentler sex is such an inn
portant factor in the insurance busi-
ness, the companies, always anxious
for new policies where men are con-
cerned, would at least look with kind
ly eye on an application from woman.
gallant as it may be to say so, truth
compels the admission that mean sus-
picion enters the mind of man the mo-
ment women asks for policy, which
only long years of subsequent life will
suffice to remove.
The unpopularity of women as insur-
ance risks is so well defined that some
companies will not accept them at all,
and others will only take them at high
er rates than are demanded on the lives
of men, Certain companies consider
them equally eligible with men and ac-
cept them at the same rates, but such is
not the practice.
Why should there be this discrimina-
ton against women? They certainly
are not exposed to the danger of conta-
gion and accident which men neces-
sarily encounter in rubbing against the
world, and neither are they addicted to
the use and abuse of stimulants and
narcotics, which practices it is fair to
assume, do not add to the stay of men
on this earth. Furthermore, there is
excellent authority for saying that in
the general population the average du-
ration of life is decidedly longer among
women than men. 1t is true that be-
tween the ages of sixteen and twenty
six the mortality among women is
somewhat greater, although the pre-
ponderance is not very marked. A
comparison of the figures prepared by
the insurance companies is apt to be
misleading because of the small number
of women included in their returns;
but the companies have these figures,
and on them base their conclusions
Insurance men account for this al
legged greater mortality of women vari-
ously. Some tell us that it is due to
the difficulty of ascertaining the pecu-
liar physical condition of women in
their applications, and others assert
that the statements made by women,
although probably unintentionally So,
are likely to be misleading. These ex-
plantations are of the kind that do not
explain much. 1t would seem to be the
duty of an insurance company to in
force proper medical and other examina-
tions prior to issuing policy to eitht.
man or woman, and it is not an unrea-
sonable supposition that if the death
rate among the few women insured has
been unduly large, there must have
been some dereliction on the part of the
companies in selecting the risks. 1t is
the evidence of medical examiners who
have been consulted by the writer that
women, as a rule, give straightforward
answers to all questions relating to
themselves In some instances medical
women have been employed as exam
iners, but with questionable results, be-
cause of natural reluctance on the
part of women to confide their physical
ailments or personal history to other
women. One medical man tells me that
during long experience he has never
met with case of refusal or hesitation
on the part of woman applicant to
give any needed information. Frauds
have been attempted by women, and
have been successfully carried out, but
the charge is equally true against men,
and their perpetration in either sex can
be guarded against readily if the med
ical examiners do their duty.
Life insurance among the women of
the leisure classes is not making great
progress; there is very little of it writ
ten relatively, in fact. There are many
reasons for this aside from the indispo-
sition of the companies to issue policies
to women. In the first place, the same
reasons for insurance do not exist that
prevail in the case of the industrial
classes. Few men in the professional,
mercantile, or higher walks of life rel
ish the idea of their wives being insured
for their benefit. There is something
distasteful to a man who has always
been able to provide for the wants and
many of the luxuries of life in the
thought that financial benefit should
come to him through the death of enc
near and dear.
That this is not so, however, among
the industrial classes, where the sterner
realities and hardships of life have to
be met face to face by the women is a
matter of record, and is clearly proved
by list of recent death claims paid in
New York city by one of the leading
companies of the world. BY actual
count there were four hundred and
ninety-fve claims paid, and of these
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