Judge me on my performance, not whether I wear trousers, says Aviva chief

Aviva’s chief executive has told detractors to judge her on performance and not on what she wears, after she suffered a raft of sexist abuse at the company’s annual meeting last week.

Amanda Blanc told The Telegraph that she wants “results to be the focus of attention rather than being judged on whether I wear trousers”, adding that she has received thousands of messages of support since the incident.  

The FTSE 100 chief’s comments came after three small investors made “simply inappropriate” remarks at Aviva’s annual meeting in London last Monday.

One individual investor said that Ms Blanc is “not the man for the job” while another asked whether she should be “wearing trousers” as he mentioned some of her male predecessors.

A third small investor expressed appreciation for the gender diversity at the insurance giant's board before saying: “They are so good at basic housekeeping activities, I’m sure this will be reflected in the direction of the board in future”.

Ms Blanc said she addressed the issue in an internal Aviva town hall meeting last week during which employees expressed their disgust at the sexist comments.

She said: “Colleagues at Aviva were more upset than anyone as they thought it undermined the hard work they and I have done.”

Ms Blanc has managed to successfully sell off eight of the insurer’s international units since taking over nearly two years ago, after her predecessors failed to get a handle on Aviva's sprawling international business.

Ms Blanc declined to say whether the investors who made the offending remarks would be banned from future meetings, but added: “I would hope those individuals will have time to reflect on their comments.”

Last week, she revealed that sexism and “unacceptable behaviour” has become worse and more “overt” the more senior she has become.

It came as Aviva said it was on track to return more cash to shareholders as insurance sales rose 5pc in the first quarter of the year

It added that a total capital return to shareholders of £4.75bn ($5.88bn) will be complete by the end of the month.

Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest activist investor which has built up a 6pc stake in Aviva, has urged Ms Blanc to boost returns further.

Shares rose 3.1pc to 418.4p, valuing the company at £11.7bn.