Anais Gutierrez
The BBC published the table of highest paid figures on Wednesday and is facing serious backlash over huge gender pay gap. The 96 names list shows that male entertainers win over five times more than women.
The broadcast did this ordered by the U.K. government to boost transparency as the company is trying to save hundreds of millions of pounds.
Shocking payment report
The U.K. government ordered the BBC to release the figures to boost transparency at a time when the broadcaster is seeking to save 800 million pounds a year.
The government required the disclosure of “people paid more than £150,000 of license fee revenue” in the last financial year. The broadcast company published a 96 stars salary list showing stark differences between male and female payment.
Only a third of the corporation’s highest-paid stars are women and the top seven are all men, with the highest-paid man, Chris Evans, on at least £2.2m last year. He earns more than four times more than the top-earning woman, Claudia Winkleman, on at least £450k.
In fact, only two women employed by the corporation, Winkleman, and Alex Jones, earn more than £400,000 compared to 12 men.
Other male top earners in 2016/17 included Gary Lineker, on more than £1.75m, and Graham Norton on over £850,000, not including his earnings from the hugely popular ‘Graham Norton Show’.
Aside from Winkleman and Jones, also at the top of the women’s list was BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, who takes home between £200,000 and £249,999.
Many high-profile women didn’t make the list at all, including newsreader Emily Maitlis and Radio 4 ‘Today ‘program presenter Sarah Montague
There is also a major gender gap between the BBC’s top newsreaders, with Huw Edwards on £550,000 to £599,999 and Fiona Bruce earning £350,000 to £399,999.
The gap between Radio 4 ‘Today’ program presenters John Humphrys and Mishal Husain was even more jaw-dropping, even taking into account their different levels of experience.
Husain earns just a third of Humphrys’ salary, at £200,000 to £250,000 compared to his £600,000 to £649,999.
Not having it
It’s often said that women have to perform twice as well as men to be considered half as good, and the BBC report is stark evidence of this.
Some of the most glaring examples of the gender pay gap include the disparity between leading sports presenters Lineker, on more than £1.75m, and national treasure Clare Balding, who earns £150,000 to £199,999.
Women’s rights campaigners, including Fawcett Society chief executive Sam Smethers, also aired their outrage and said the BBC’s report should extend beyond its highest earners to include all staff.
Critics of the report, including high-profile journalists and other public figures who didn’t hold back on social media. Many also called out the corporation for its “nepotistic system” of hiring talent.
Harriet Harman, the Labour MP, said there was “clearly discrimination” at the BBC and that the corporation needed to change.
“It is very important that the lid has been lifted on this pay discrimination in the BBC. Although everybody will think it is very unfair and outrageous, this is a moment when it can be sorted out,” told BBC News.
Theresa May, the prime minister, accused the BBC of paying women less than men for doing the same job.
“I think what has happened today is we have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men. I want to see women paid equally with men,” she said in an interview with LBC.
Agents for a group of the BBC’s female stars are understood to be preparing to demand that the corporation’s bosses offer their clients a pay rise. Lawyers have also warned that the BBC faces sexual discrimination lawsuits.
BAMES stars getting even less
Making things worse, the report also revealed a huge disparity between what men and women are paid and stark differences between what white stars receive compared to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) stars.
The highest earners are also largely white. No ethnic-minority star is paid more than 300,000 pounds a year.
The highest-paid BAME stars are George Alagiah, Jason Mohammad, and Trevor Nelson. Each earns between £250,000 and £300,000 – considerably less than the highest-paid white men. While the highest-paid BAME woman is Mishal Husain, who earned less than the BAME men at between £200,000 and £250,000.
The issue of pay at the BBC first became a hot topic after 2008, as years of falling or stagnant real incomes across the U.K. sharpened emotions over income inequality.
The vast bulk of the BBC’s funding comes from a mandatory and flat-rate license fee that every household with a TV in the U.K. has to pay. That fee amounts to a regressive tax on lower-income families.
BBC chief Tony Hall said the list showed “the need to go further and faster on issues of gender and diversity,” but defended the high salaries.
“The BBC does not exist in a market on its own where it can set the market rates,” he said. “If we are to give the public what they want, then we have to pay for those great presenters and stars.
The list doesn’t include BBC talent paid by outside production companies. That may explain the absence of big-name stars including nature presenter David Attenborough and ‘Top Gear’ host Matt LeBlanc.
Source: Fortune
