Forget equal pay until men can have babies, says ex BBC host

A FORMER BBC presenter has claimed women will never be paid the same as men because they take time off to have babies.

Sue Macgregor, who hosted Today on BBC Radio 4 from 1984 until 2002, said that “women always end up doing most of the work” with children.

Speaking yesterday on Today, Ms Macgregor addressed the issue of the gender pay gap in general.

She said: “My view is that there will never be totally equal pay for women until men have babies.

“They will never have equal pay because there will be times when they have to leave. There are extraordinary people who come back to work after two weeks or four weeks but mostly, and rightly, their attention is taken by this new little thing in their lives.”

The gender pay gap at the BBC was thrown into focus after it published details of staff earning more than £150,000. Figures revealed that twothirds of its top-earning stars were male.

The release prompted some of the most famous female stars at the corporation – including Clare Balding, Sue Barker and Emily Maitlis – to launch an open revolt against their bosses, telling them to “act now” to close the gap.

Today has been cited as representative of the wider issue in the BBC. Male presenters John Humphrys and Nick Robinson are paid more than £600,000 and £250,000 respectively, with its top-earning female presenter Mishal Husain paid more than £200,000.

Sarah Montague was the only Today presenter not to appear on the list of highly paid staff.

This prompted an awkward exchange in the studio with Ms Macgregor, who was on the programme alongside Humphrys and Montague.

Ms Macgregor said: “Really, Sarah should be asking this question, not me.”

Montague replied, laughing: “I don’t think I should.”