Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Beeb’s boss: We’ll sort out unfair pay by end of year
Stars’ letter of protest spurs action
THE BBC’S director-general has vowed to “accelerate” efforts to tackle its shameful gender pay gap.
Lord Tony Hall said work was already under way and he will hold a two-month consultation – with concrete results expected by the end of the year.
The move was revealed in a reply to a letter signed by 40 senior female presenters and reporters – including Clare Balding, Emily Maitlis and Fiona Bruce – demanding changes immediately rather than by his target of 2020.
The Mirror understands Lord Hall is likely to meet some of the stars who backed the letter to defuse anger.
In his reply, he said of work to address the pay disparity: “We are not making a standing start. Work is already well under way across the organisation to help achieve this.
“There will be wider consultation meetings over the next two months so we can accelerate further change in the autumn. I would obviously value your contribution and thinking as part of this process.
“When figures are published next year I am confident they will look very different. When other organisations publish their gender pay data by next April, I want the BBC to be one of the best performers.
“But beyond that over the next three years I want the BBC to be regarded as an exemplar on gender and diversity.”
The complaint, coordinated by Woman’s Hour host Jane Garvey, came after documents setting out pay for staff on more than £150,000 were released on Wednesday. They showed a sizeable gap between the corporation’s best-known male and female stars.
Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans topped the list on more than £2million, while the highest paid woman was Strictly’s Claudia Winkleman, on up to £499,999. Two-thirds of the list was made up of men and
some trousered more than women with similar jobs. Today journalist Mishal Husain was shown to be earning up to £250,000 but colleague John Humphrys gets up to £650,000.
The letter signatories – including Husain, Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker and BBC Breakfast regular Sally Nugent – said they would be “prepared to meet” Mr Hall “so that future generations of women do not face this kind of discrimination”.
EXPERIENCE
Former minister Anna Soubry, an ex-tv presenter, said she kept a “very beady eye” on pay levels when she was a mother of the chapel at a branch of the National Union of Journalists. The Tory said on BBC1’S Andrew Marr Show yesterday: “I just wonder whether or not the de-unionisation of many places of work... they played an important point in making sure there was fairness.”
Presenter Marr said he is paid up to £449,999 because he has been around for a long time. Speaking on his show, he said: “People like me, we get paid more because we have got experience.
“I’m a bit grizzled, going a bit weird around the edges. But if I had been born Audrey Marr rather than Andrew Marr, I would have been out 10 years ago.
“There’s a real lack of older women on the screen.”
Lord Hall added in his note: “I hope the change of recent years is proof of my commitment to making this happen.
“When I came back to the BBC I said we needed to move from having 14% of women on local radio breakfast shows to 50%. We achieved that in two years.
“I also said we needed a 50/50 split on all presenting and lead roles by 2020.”
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on the Marr show yesterday: “This gender pay gap is appalling.
“We would insist on a strong pay audit of every organisation and we’d also look at a 20-1 ratio between the chief executive and the lowest paid staff in every public sector organisation.”
They [unions] played an important point in making sure there was fairness ANNA SOUBRY ON THE DE-UNIONISATION OF WORKPLACES