BBC female presenters call on director general to ‘sort gender pay gap now’

A number of female BBC presenters have signed an open letter to director general Tony Hall for him to “correct” the disparity in gender pay.

On Wednesday, the corporation revealed the salaries of presenters who earn over £150,000.

The report showed that two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 are male, with the highest earning male earning between £2.2 million and £2.25 million, whilst the highest earning female earned between £450,000 and £500,000 last year.

“The pay details released in the annual report showed what many of us have suspected for many years … that women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work.” the letter read.

“Compared to many women and men, we are very well compensated and fortunate. However, this is an age of equality and the BBC is an organisation that prides itself on its values.

“You have said that you will “sort” the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years. We all want to go on the record to call upon you to act now.

“Beyond the list, there are so many other areas including production, engineering and support services and global, regional and local media where a pay gap has languished for too long.

“This is an opportunity for those of us with strong and loud voices to use them on behalf of all, and for an organisation that had to be pushed into transparency to do the right thing.

“We would be willing to meet you to discuss ways in which you can correct this disparity so that future generations of women do not face this kind of discrimination.”

The open letter has been signed by over 40 female employees at the BBC. 

Lord Hall said “work is already well under way” to resolve the issue.

Gary Lineker has supported the letter, sending a tweet saying that the women “Certainly get my total and utter support.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Contracts obviously come up for renewal all the time, but we’re not going to carry out contract negotiations through the newspapers, 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.”