31 July 2017

Should women turn off the BBC? It’s a provocative question, but did you think it, even for a second, when the gender pay gap at the national broadcaster became apparent last week, after the corporation revealed the salaries of their top 96 earners?

While the top earning men were on salaries around the £2 million mark, the highest earning (and most primetime) woman, Claudia Winkleman, was on just a quarter of that. The list was two-thirds male.

Other women on the list (Mishal Husain, for example) earned far less than their male counterparts, for doing exactly the same job. And then there were those big female names #notonthelist. Sarah Montague, Emily Maitlis, Jane Garvey, Louise Minchin, Jenni Murray. Women who feature large in our media, but far less in the salary stakes.

We are, of course, talking huge sums of money – far, far more than the average wage. But, whatever your job, equality matters.

At Grazia, we successfully campaigned to change the law on pay transparency – and what you’re seeing at the BBC is just the start. By April, many more companies will have lifted the lid on their gender pay gaps. But, however outraged we may feel at those black-and-white figures, #notonthelist Jane Garvey, Radio 4 Woman’s Hour presenter, who is on £130,000, argues on page 18 that it’s actually filled her with excitement. This is the moment, she says, to lead the charge for change.

And she’s right. After all, you can’t be what you can’t see. And now we see…