Women’s organisations have welcomed a decision by the European Court of Justice which ruled against insurers’ practice of giving females preferential rate because they are statistically known to be safer drivers.

The court decision, delivered on Tuesday, will essentially stop insurance companies from charging different rates to men and women as from December 2012.

Beyond losing the benefit on car insurance, however, women will gain from the fact that discrimination against them on health, life or travel insurance based on gender will also have to be dropped.

Renee Laiviera, from the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, said that although one might think, at face value, that the court’s ruling worked against women’s interests, because of the motor insurance element, “the bigger picture balances things out”.

Ms Laiviera said it was an international concern that women were at a disadvantage on health and life policies because a number of insurers do not cover anything linked to the women’s reproductive system. Women are also discriminated against at times on private pensions because they have a longer life expectancy than men.

Grace Attard, from the National Council of Women, also welcomed the court decision, saying the council agreed so long as it was applied across the board including health insurance.

The ECJ decision followed a challenge by Belgian consumer group Test-Achats.

The EU equality directive aims at safeguarding gender equality in the access to and supply of goods and services. Yet, a temporary exception allowed the use of gender as a basis for the calculation of premiums and benefits if relevant and accurate statistical data are used and published.

The ECJ decision ruled that the exemption to insurers worked against gender equality.

The European insurance federation, CEA, has expressed its concern that banning the use of gender in insurance pricing would be detrimental to consumers as it could lead to general premium increases, among other things.

The federation also pointed out that gender was a legitimate determining factor in insurance pricing since there were strong indications of a relationship between gender, mortality and incidence of ill-health.