BBC’s China editor quits over gender pay gap row
beijing — The BBC’s China editor has resigned her position in Beijing in protest over what she called a failure to sufficiently address a gap in compensation between men and women at the public broadcaster.
Carrie Gracie’s departure is the latest aftershock from the BBC’s forced publication last year of pay levels for its top earners that showed two-thirds of those in the top bracket were men.
A 30-year veteran of the BBC, Gracie said in a statement on her website addressed to BBC viewers that she could no longer perform her job at a high level while battling with bosses over pay equality.
Gracie said she learned that two of the BBC’s four international editors — both men — made at least 50 per cent more than their two female counterparts. She said she was not seeking more money for herself, but only demanding that the BBC observe British law requiring equal pay for equal work.
Gracie said she would stay with the BBC and “return to my former post in the TV newsroom where I
The BBC must admit the problem, apologise and set in place an equal, fair and transparent pay structure
Carrie Gracie, BBC China’s editor
expect to be paid equally.” “The BBC must admit the problem, apologise and set in place an equal, fair and transparent pay structure,” Gracie wrote. Rather than waste money on an “unwinnable court fight against female staff, the BBC should immediately agree to independent arbitration to settle individual cases,” she wrote. The BBC quoted a spokeswoman as reaffirming its commitment to equal pay and saying a separate report on pay for on-air staff would be issued in the “not too distant future.”
“A significant number of organisations have now published their gender pay figures showing that we are performing considerably better than many and are well below the national average.
“Alongside that, we have already conducted an independent judgeled audit of pay for rank and file staff which showed ‘no systemic discrimination against women,’” the statement said. —