Women of BBC want to meet Hall
THE Director-General of the BBC said he will “value (the) contribution” of more than 40 senior female presenters and reporters who signed a letter demanding immediate action from him to tackle the gender pay gap.
Lord (Tony) Hall said work was under way to close disparities between men and women’s pay at the corporation.
His response follows a letter, signed by the likes of Clare Balding, Emily Maitlis and Fiona Bruce, which called for action to sort out pay inequality “now”, rather than by Lord Hall’s selfimposed 2020 timescale.
Lord Hall said: “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 original letter, coordinated by Woman’s Hour host Jane Garvey, came after documents setting out the pay for staff on more than £150,000 showed a sizeable gap in the earnings of the corporation’s best-known male and female presenters and actors.
Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans topped the list on more than £2 million, while the highest paid woman was Strictly’s Claudia Winkleman on between £450,000£499,999.
In the letter, the signatories – including Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker, Today programme journalists Mishal Husain and Sarah Montague 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”.