British insurance giant Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc was the subject of 'flabbergasting' sexist remarks after delivering a speech at the company's annual shareholder meeting.
Blanc, who joined the company in April 2020 as its first-ever female lead, highlighted in her speech - which was streamed online - a string of eight disposals Aviva made over the last year that netted the company £7.5 billion ($9.2 billion).
She also announced the company was returning £4.75 billion to shareholders—£750 million above the target set last year, on the back of increased cash generation and dividend guidance.
But this didn't please everyone, according to the Financial Times.
One ordinary investor said Blanc's planned disposals and capital returns didn't match the share price performance over the last decade and she was “not the man for the job.”
Another investor, Michael Mason-Mahon, reportedly commented on the speech referencing previous leaders of Aviva and questioned whether Blanc should be “wearing trousers."
Ted O’Toole, a third small shareholder, congratulated the board on its gender diversity, then allegedly added: "They are so good at basic housekeeping activities, I’m sure this will be reflected in the direction of the board in future.”
Chair of the board, George Culver hit out at the remarks made by the shareholders, saying he was “flabbergasted” at the inappropriate remarks.
Culmer said: “I’m not going to say thank you to everyone for your comments because I think there were some comments in that session that were simply inappropriate and I do not expect and would [not] want to hear at any future AGM. I’m flabbergasted, to be honest.”
Aviva did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Sexism isn’t new to London’s insurance world
Culver has admonished rude remarks at AGMs in the past, but this was the first time the remarks had been “sexist” in nature, according to the Financial Times.
But sexism isn’t new to London’s insurance world.
The world’s biggest and oldest insurance market Lloyd’s of London has been struggling to clean up its own company since a 2019 Bloomberg report called the 330-year-old London insurance market “the most archaic corner left in global finance.”
The report found evidence provided by 18 women on the widespread sexual harassment at Lloyd's, ranging from inappropriate remarks to physical assault.
A survey was then commissioned by the Banking Standards Board on behalf of Lloyd’s, which found that nearly 500 people working in the insurance market had suffered or observed sexual harassment in the past 12 months in 2019.
Aviva has been working to rectify this.
Half of Aviva’s board is women woman and the company has a woman in the chief financial officer, chief risk, chief people, chief marketing, and general counsel roles. But their annual pay gap for 2021, reported by the U.K. government, found that the average hourly pay gap for women was still 25.9% lower for women than it was for men.