BBC accused of gender pay inequality
16th April 2012
Posted by Richard McKenna
The BBC has been accused of failing to provide gender equality when it comes to its employees' salaries with men at the broadcaster paid ten per cent more on average than women.
A Freedom of Information request from trade publication Broadcast revealed that women employed by the BBC earn an average of £37,100 a year compared with £41,800 for men, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The figures suggest the presence of a significant 'glass ceiling' for women at the BBC, with corporation employing 82 men in its top senior management grade, compared with 42 women.
Within this grade, male employees earn an average salary of £165,000, compared with just over £148,000 for female workers.
There is greater gender equality at the grade below, where both sexes earn an average of just over £99,000, but men still outnumber women at this grade by almost two to one, with 223 male members of staff compared with 111 female.
Across the company as a whole, employees are split fairly evenly across the sexes, with 11,135 full and part-time female staff, compared with 11,609 men.
But women are more likely to work in lower-grade positions, where they account for 60 per cent of the workforce, than management levels where they make up 36 per cent.
However, the BBC defended its record over gender equality in the workplace, pointing out that it has a high number of women in the boardroom.
"Pay is determined individually based on a range of factors including grade, role and responsibilities. It is never dependent on gender," a BBC spokeswoman told the news provider.
"Female representation at senior management level has risen and board-level representation is good - 42 per cent of BBC executive board members are female, compared with 26 per cent in the wider media industry."
Meanwhile, it has emerged this week that the Equality and Human Rights Commission - the organisation tasked with helping to ensure equality in the workplace - pays its male employees around four per cent more than its female staff.
Furthermore, according to payroll figures seen by The Sun, white staff at the Commission earn around six per cent more than their black or ethnic minority colleagues.
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