Feisty Anne would not have stood for lower wages

ALTHOUGH she worked during less enlightened times, when gender inequality and a culture of jobs for the boys were more entrenched than now, no-nonsense news anchor Anne Doyle, pictured, says she would never have accepted unequal pay. ‘My dim memory of my career is that I had a pretty damn good idea what people were being paid,’ she says.

‘I personally didn’t ever feel short-changed and I think if anyone is being short-changed then they are quite right to make their views very plain… I never had the experience of sitting beside a person doing the same job and getting paid more. Had that been the case I would have been very cross indeed.’

Doyle’s anger would have been justified as she was one of the most capable and charismatic newscasters of her generation and deserved top pay.

But ability was perhaps not the main determinant of her salary, no more than it is for female broadcasters today.

What may have been just as decisive was her supreme selfconfidence and her preparedness to confront her bosses about any cosy wage deals for the boys.

Anti-discrimination law and wage equality have improved female careers but sometimes the greatest weapon of all is a fiery female temperament.