Working women are less likely than men to have adequate life insurance coverage, according to a study by MetLife Inc.
The sixth annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends said that, in general, female employees who have life insurance own coverage worth two times their household income. Male employees with life insurance, by contrast, generally have coverage worth three times their household income, said the study, which was released Monday.
"This gender gap is surprising," according to MetLife, since 64% of working women, as opposed to 52% of working men, are very concerned about their families' financial health in the event of their own premature death.
In addition, 46% of full-time working women have taken no steps to determine their life insurance needs, and 56% of the women in the survey who have life insurance coverage did not believe that the amount of their coverage is adequate, or were unsure that it is.
