When one woman was looking to make friends in the neighborhood, the last thing she expected was to revolutionize an industry.
But that’s exactly what Marie Kirkland did in 1888 when she placed an ad in the Council Bluffs, Iowa newspaper asking the wives of a local life insurance company to gather for a social.
From there, Kirkland spent the next seven years building an organization aimed at empowering women and educating them about financial protection. She called it Royal Neighbors of America® and it became one of the first organizations to offer life insurance to women.
Historically, life insurance was for men only. Women had very few rights and even less financial independence.
But Kirkland and the Royal Neighbors of America operated on a simple mission: “to bring joy and comfort into many homes that might otherwise today be dark and cheerless…by affording the mother an opportunity to provide protection upon her life.”
And it’s still true today.
For nearly the last 130 years, Royal Neighbors of America has built a legacy of inspiring social change to empower women. As one of the largest female-led life insurance organizations, we continue to help women build financial security so that they can accomplish greatness on their own terms.
