Aviva’s bid to create a more diverse workforce has right-wingers spitting feathers

Aviva’s bid to create a workforce more representative of society as a whole has left broadcaster and part-time politician Jacob Rees-Mogg in a fit of rage.

The GB News man has advised white men – who continue to overwhelmingly dominate CEO positions in the FTSE 100 – that their business is no longer welcome at the insurance giant on the back of comments made by CEO Amanda Blanc to a parliamentary committee.

Blanc, who became Aviva’s first female CEO in 2020, has brought in new policies in a bid to eliminate sexism in the financial services industry, which is traditionally dominated by blokes.

Appearing in front of the Sexism in the City inquiry, she said that “there is no non-diverse hire at Aviva without it being signed off by me and the chief people officer”.

“Not because I don’t trust my team but [because] I want to make sure that the process followed for that recruitment has been diverse, has been properly done and is not just a phone call to a mate saying, ‘would you like a job, pop up and we’ll fix it up for you’,”.

Explaining her role in signing off senior hirings, she said: “The scope of the charter is to get more women into senior management roles.”

“My belief is if you have more women in senior management roles, this behaviour will go away.”

But the comments have provoked outrage among right-wingers, with Mr Rees-Mogg leading the charge.

Watch his comments below:

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.