By Gabriel Princewill
The BBC will carry out contract negotiations with its aggrieved female presenters , in an attempt to resolve the gender pay gap.
Following the publication of the wage packages taken home by BBC stars, threats of law suits by up to 10 disgruntled BBC female presenters has emerged, but the BBC told the eye of media.com that they were not aware of any legal suits. Allegations that attempts to shut some BBC female staff were made through the offer of ”hush money” have been branded ”nonesense” by the BBC.
RENEWALS
A spokesperson for the BBC told the eye of media.com that contracts come up for renewals all the time , adding that the corporation is ahead of others in its pledge to close the pay gap by 2020. Highlighting its progress, the BBC said it’s gender pay gap was not as bad as the gender pay gap on average in other organisations, adding that female presenters now make up half of their local radio breakfast shows. Their spokesperson indicated that the next round of figures will reveal how much progress has been made. The BBC spokesperson said:
”On narrowing the gender pay gap, Tony Hall spoke about the BBC’s targets and commitment on Wednesday – going further thanother organisations by pledging to close it by 2020. We’ve already made good progress – for example 50% of local radio breakfast shows now have a female presenter, up from 14% when Tony arrived.
Our gender pay gap is also around 10% compared to the national average 18%. Contracts obviously come up for renewal all the time, but we’re not going to carry out contract negotiations through the media, and we’re constantly developing new talent. Ultimately people will be able to judge our progress when the next figures come out, just as they’ll be able to judge how other organisations are doing when we all have to publish gender pay gap figures by April”.
This fact in itself is positive and commendable, but relative equality in the earnings of men and women in the BBC should be prioritized as an urgent matter.
DEVELOPMENT
The BBC indicated that the corporation is in a fluid state of development , ”constantly developing new talent”. The implicit presumption here must be that the BBC is working on developing more female talent who will earn top bucks, high enough to be comparable with the earnings of their male counterparts.
The BBC’s spokesperson hinted that the next round of figures will demonstrate the progress they have made in combating the gender gap. That next round is April, 2018, the inference being that a lot of progress in the BBC will be evident then. The spokesperson said:
”On narrowing the gender pay gap, Tony Hall spoke about the BBC’s targets and commitment on Wednesday – going further than other organisations by pledging to close it by 2020. We’ve already made good progress – for example 50% of local radio breakfast shows now have a female presenter, up from 14% when Tony arrived. Our gender pay gap is also around 10% compared to the national average 18%. Contracts obviously come up for renewal all the time, but we’re not going to carry out contract negotiations through the media, and we’re constantly developing new talent.
”Ultimately people will be able to judge our progress when the next figures come out, just as they’ll be able to judge how other organisations are doing when we all have to publish gender pay gap figures by April’.
This statement suggests that a gender pay gap is prevalent in many organisations in the UK to a wider extent than at the BBC. However, the BBC did not name any other organisations, ostensibly implying this statement of fact is verifiable via other sources of information. That’s something to be explored at some point . The Corporation’s claim to have an even distribution of men and women in local radio is commendable , but there needs to be greater equality in treatment for a wholesome level of improvement.
DISCRIMINATION
The failing and associated discrimination must be eradicated as a matter of urgency. Other organisations where this same discrimination has been thriving, will have to begin to redress this ghastly state of affairs or face humiliation if discovered. The broadcaster said the development of new talent is an ongoing practise in the corporation and indicated that contracts will be renewed to tackle the gender gap painfully exposed on Thursday.
The BBC will almost certainly be renewing contracts in the wake of the uproar caused by the gender gap revelations in their institutions, but they were decoy about the timing of those contractual renewals. Their statement that they would not ”carry out contract negotiations through the media is fair enough, since the media will surely be keeping a close eye here on one of Britain’s longest serving corporations.