BBC’S gender pay gap revealed
Hall admits corporation must do more on equality as two thirds of top earners are men
THE BBC will today admit that it has a gender pay problem as the corporation reveals that two thirds of its highestpaid stars are men.
Lord Hall, the director-general, disclosed that, of the 96 top names earning £150,000 or more, 62 are male.
Before the BBC annual report is released today, Lord Hall said: “At the moment, of the talent earning over £150,000, two thirds are men and onethird are women. Is that where we want to be? No.”
The BBC needed “to go further and faster on issues of gender and diversity”, but he claimed that it was “most certainly” doing better than other broadcasters in that regard.
The corporation is braced for a staff revolt as employees discover that colleagues in the same job are paid vastly more. In some cases, female presenters who sit alongside male colleagues on the same shows will be revealed to earn less than their counterparts.
The backlash from female presenters began last night with one wellknown name saying the corporation was stuffed with “male ‘intellectual titans’ with egos the size of planets” who demanded huge salaries and got them. Armed with the figures, published for the first time, women will now be able to demand parity. “Women have got to get serious and stick up for each other. If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” said one.
The gender pay gap affects news and current affairs, sport, entertainment and drama. Radio 4’s Today programme, BBC Breakfast and BBC One’s main news bulletins are expected to throw up significant salary differences.
The pay of news and current affairs presenters such as John Humphrys, Eddie Mair and Huw Edwards is expected to dwarf that of their female colleagues.
A male household name on the list said: “Everyone is on tenterhooks. Imagine finding out that the person on the same rota as you earns vastly more.
“It is a nightmare for management. One manager here said, ‘If you want me on Wednesday morning, I’ll be under my desk.’”
In his speech, Lord Hall urged staff not to be jealous of colleagues’ salaries. “A word of warning: comparing people’s pay is not straightforward. Very few do precisely the same thing – people working at the same show may have other, or different, commitments,” he said.
In a sign that the BBC is braced for a public backlash, he added: “We need to employ the very best … but of course we all appreciate that we are dealing with the public’s money.
“We’re talking about what, to lots of people, are large sums. This is not something we can take lightly.”
Radio 2 DJS will learn just how much less they are paid than Chris Evans, while Radio 4 details are understood to show that presenters of Woman’s Hour earn less than men who host daily discussion shows, and that the women on the Today programme are at the lesser end of the pay scale.