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In 2004 the European Union proposed to harmonise car insurance for men and women. The new directive stated that insurers were not to take gender into consideration when providing a car insurance premium. Had the new directive become legislation women drivers would have been forced to pay significantly higher premiums.

The Gender Directive forbids men and women to be treated differently by businesses. Insurance companies would have fallen fowl of the directive as the current rating system includes gender. However, legislation has been rewritten following campaigns by the British Government. Statistical evidence was used to prove women are safer drivers than men. As a result insurance companies are allowed to continue to take into account gender when setting premiums.

It has long been proven that women are less likely to be convicted of driving offences and their accidents are less severe than those involving men.

The British Insurance Brokers Association said that premiums could have risen by up to 30% under the new EU laws with women under thirty being the worse affected.

The Association of British Insurers welcomed the news and said "We support equality but believe that insurers should be free to use factors such as gender when it is relevant in assessing risk".

A lords EU committee opposed the ban and commented that it would be wrong to penalise younger female drivers just for the sake of removing sex differentiation when younger males have far worse accident claims and convictions records.