Those of you who know me have probably realized by now that I dip my toe into the murky waters of gender politics from time to time and I'm afraid today is one of those days.

At an industry roundtable today in London it was noticeable that there were a large number of female faces at the table - surprising perhaps in the still male dominated (re)insurance industry.

I was not the only one to notice and a lively discussion soon struck up on the subject.

It would appear (re)insurance may be beginning to follow the trend that has been seen in other financial services in the UK with more women beginning to appear at a senior management level.

So why now?

One (male) attendee noted that in the UK there is a perception amongst some of the less well informed that the big scary male bank executives caused the recession and are perhaps more willing to trust a female face - but would this really transfer to non-consumer facing markets such as reinsurance?

Others said that the emergence of a small but brave band of female executives in the reinsurance industry is a reflection as to the make up of primary insurers.

Personally I believe that it is the example set by the strong female executives that have emerged, especially in the Lloyd's/London market, over the last few years which in turn encourages more ambitious women to take a look at the reinsurance markets as a serious career option.

That's the end of my rant.

I am off on holiday at the end of this week so this may well be the last post on blog-re before the new year. I hope you all have a great Christmas/New Year and all of you with January renewals to deal with don't miss too much of the festivities.