The European Union is close to outlawing sex discrimination, which could force insurers to stop using gender as the basis for calculating insurance premiums.
According to reports the European Commission is set to present a draft proposal to ministers in the next couple of weeks.
However leading insurers have been lobbying hard against the proposal. They are concerned the new rules could harm their profitability.
Zurich's head of motor underwriting Dave Swann said: "If implemented the proposal could lead to a problem for us. The frequency of accidents is similar in men and women, but the average cost of claims is lower in women. So we try to reflect this in our ratings.
"If we had to change this approach it could hurt our profitability. We may have to increase women drivers' premiums to cover this."
AA Insurance Services managing director Andrew Briscoe said: "Women of most ages have long benefited from cheaper premiums than men due to the fact that they present less financial risk to motor insurers."
AA research has shown that young men drivers represent the highest risk and that they were six times more likely to be killed on the road than their parents.
