BBC culture was biased against its older women
THE BBC did have a cultural mindset of discriminating against older women, a damning report has revealed.
The study examining the role of women in news and current affairs broadcasting criticised the industry for its sexist attitudes and singled out the BBC as having the biggest obligation to improve.
Lord Best, who chaired the investigation by the House of Lords Communications Committee, claimed change was not happening quickly enough and that female presenters still become ‘invisible’ and ‘fade away’ once they reach 50.
The strongly-worded 60-page report, published today, concluded that Ofcom should play a greater role in policing how broadcasters treat women and impose sanctions on those not living up to expectations.
While the report looked at the entire broadcast industry, the BBC was repeatedly singled out as having a particular responsibility due to it being funded by the £145.50 licence fee.
The committee collected emotional evidence from high-profile female broadcasters including ITV News’ social affairs editor Penny Marshall, 52, former BBC journalist Olenka Frenkiel, 59, and former Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly, 57, who won an age discrimination case against the corporation.
Their comments lifted the lid on the ‘bullying’ tactics women are subjected to and how they are expected to abandon childcare duties if they are required to work, particularly at night.
It was claimed that there are different standards for men, particularly as they get older. Miss O’Reilly and Miss Frenkiel suggested there is an ‘informal policy’ of discrimination and that while older women saw their careers dry up, their male colleagues could ‘continue to function as normal, permitted to be ugly, grizzly, fat, old, and peculiar’.
With presenters including Moira Stewart, Anna Ford, Selina Scott and Julia Somerville all reportedly asserting they had been sidelined because of their age, Miss Marshall described herself to the committee as ‘kind of the last woman standing’.
The report noted that while the majority of those over 50 in the UK are women, men account for 82 per cent of television presenters above that age.
It found that the UK industry compared poorly to other countries, particularly the US and Scandinavia, in the treatment of older women.
Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s deputy director of news and current affairs, accepted that there had been a cultural mindset which had been biased against older women on television, but claimed this was no longer the case.
The report suggested that if the situation had not improved within a year, a new body should be set up to ensure broadcasters meet set gender equality targets.
The BBC said: ‘ Nearly half of the BBC’s news and current affairs workforce is female with more than a third in leadership positions. We are always looking at what more we can do.’
‘Last woman standing’