Shaming of BBC over gender pay
BBC bosses told a female journalist she earned less than her male colleagues because she was ‘in development’, MPs heard yesterday.
Carrie Gracie told a Westminster select committee the BBC ‘belittles’ women who raise equal pay claims.
The journalist broke down as she described her treatment by the corporation.
The Scot said she fought her way to become BBC China Editor while battling breast cancer and dealing with her daughter’s leukaemia.
And ex-BBC Scotland health correspondent Eleanor Bradford has said she was paid £10,000 a year less than some of her male counterparts.
THE BBC told Carrie Gracie she did not deserve to be paid as much as her male counterparts because she was ‘in development’ – then smeared her name when she launched a public protest, MPs heard.
The revelation came as the former BBC China editor warned the broadcaster was stumbling towards a ‘Greek tragedy’ as it tries to duck blame for the pay row.
She made the claims in a grilling by MPs of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, which at times left her in tears as she recalled her treatment by the corporation.
Female BBC presenters who attended the five-hour hearing gasped as they heard Miss Gracie – who has spent more than 30 years at the Corporation and is fluent in Mandarin – was recently told by bosses that she earned less than her male counterparts partly because she had been ‘in development’.
BBC chiefs were asked to apologise to her, but MPs had to prompt them three times before chairman Sir David Clementi turned round to address her directly, saying: ‘I’m actually very sorry.’
Director general Lord Hall claimed ‘the system is working’, when referring to the number of people who had complained about inequality.
Tory MP Julian Knight said: ‘We have testimonies coming in right, left and centre from people at the BBC saying they are discriminated against and you are actually saying, “The system is working, all is well, move on please”.’
Miss Gracie, who was born in Bahrain while her Scottish oil executive father was on assignment there, went to school in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow before studying at the University of Edinburgh.
She claimed the broadcaster has an informal ‘caste system’ and ‘belittles’ women who raise equal pay claims. She accused it of trying to ‘throw money’ at people to resolve the problem and avoid a bigger ‘fiscal liability’ – and that its flurry of pay reports were trying to ‘retrofit justifications for the indefensible’.
‘We have a toxic work atmosphere… women leaving, the credibility of management is diminished and damaged and they will lose in employment tribunals,’ she said. ‘They are stumbling towards a
‘Toxic work atmosphere’
Greek tragedy … They need to stop now, pull up and trust their staff.’
She added: ‘My job as a BBC journalist is to report the truth as I find it… if they don’t report the truth, how can we?’
MPs revealed the Corporation had tried to dismiss Miss Gracie’s public stand by telling the Press she worked part-time and spent only 100 days a year in China. But she worked full-time and spent over 200 days a year there – more than her contract obliged her to.
The corporation’s bosses – Lord Hall, his deputy Anne Bulford, director of news Fran Unsworth and chairman Sir David – also gave evidence. Lord Hall insisted he knew the BBC’s pay levels long before salary disclosures last summer, saying: ‘Of course I knew what was going on there.’
But when Labour MP Julie Elliott checked if he knew women were doing equal jobs for unequal pay, he denied detailed knowledge.
MP Mr Knight said the way the BBC dealt with the issue was ‘a complete horror show’ and told of ‘systematic inequality’. He asked Lord Hall: ‘Isn’t this a situation where the organisation, over this particular issue, is in meltdown?’
He suggested the BBC needed a solution ‘more radical than a PWC report which seemingly exonerates you in the first line’, adding that it was ‘the worst get of jail free card I have ever seen’.
Lord Hall praised Miss Gracie’s bravery, adding: ‘On briefings from the BBC about other journalists, I completely deplore that side of any business… I would condemn anyone briefing against her.’