I’m senior enough to kick up a fuss on equal pay says Clare
CLARE Balding has revealed she is not afraid of being a ‘troublemaker’ at the BBC because she is in a ‘senior’ role.
The presenter, 48, said though she might suffer for being someone who ‘makes noise’ on issues such as equal pay, it is worth it.
Miss Balding, who earns up to £1 0,000 a year, was one of more than 40 female presenters to call on director general Lord Hall to address the BBC’s pay disparity. She previously criticised the BBC for its treatment of women as ‘discount items’ after it emerged in 2017 that the majority of the corporation’s 6 highest-paid employees were male.
‘I don’t care if they label me a troublemaker,’ she told Good Housekeeping. ‘I’d rather use the fact that I can get a meeting with whoever and tell them what I think; they might not agree, but they’ll listen.’ She added: ‘There are plenty of women within the BBC who are prepared to do that. Those of us who do are that bit more senior.
‘Frankly, we’re all of the attitude that it’s harder to do when you’re younger... You need the generation above you to do it for you... I may have already suffered for it, but it’s worth it.’
Miss Balding also told how she used to be ‘fearful’ there were few women over the age of 50 on TV. She said: ‘I thought, “Life ends at 50; I won’t work after then”. Now that myth is being busted.’