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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/30/the-guardian-view-on-bbc-pay-no-more-excuses
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| The Guardian view on BBC pay: no more excuses | The Guardian view on BBC pay: no more excuses |
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| Tue 30 Jan 2018 18.21 GMT | Tue 30 Jan 2018 18.21 GMT |
| Last modified on Tue 30 Jan 2018 19.21 GMT | |
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| The BBC is in a hole and it is time it stopped digging. In July came the revelation that two-thirds of its highest paid on-screen talent is male. In October, its cumbersome bureaucratic 10-level staff pay grading system was found to be shot full of holes and a 9.6% average gap between men and women’s earnings was exposed. “Better than average”, blustered the corporation, but it has settled 115 unfair pay claims, and there are as many outstanding. Now its rewards structure for 184 on-screen news stars has been described as “secretive” and “unstructured” in a second report from PricewaterhouseCoopers published on Tuesday. | The BBC is in a hole and it is time it stopped digging. In July came the revelation that two-thirds of its highest paid on-screen talent is male. In October, its cumbersome bureaucratic 10-level staff pay grading system was found to be shot full of holes and a 9.6% average gap between men and women’s earnings was exposed. “Better than average”, blustered the corporation, but it has settled 115 unfair pay claims, and there are as many outstanding. Now its rewards structure for 184 on-screen news stars has been described as “secretive” and “unstructured” in a second report from PricewaterhouseCoopers published on Tuesday. |
| This report is as bad as the last: it reveals an overall gender gap of 6.8% that rises to more than 12% among less glamorous staffers like news correspondents. Yet it confidently asserts there is “no evidence” of gender bias in pay decisions, merely some “anomalies that need addressing”. The director general, Tony Hall, is clinging to the maxim that absence of evidence is the same as evidence of absence. On Wednesday MPs on the culture, media and sport committee will be able to test his claim – and examine the quality of the data on which it is based. | This report is as bad as the last: it reveals an overall gender gap of 6.8% that rises to more than 12% among less glamorous staffers like news correspondents. Yet it confidently asserts there is “no evidence” of gender bias in pay decisions, merely some “anomalies that need addressing”. The director general, Tony Hall, is clinging to the maxim that absence of evidence is the same as evidence of absence. On Wednesday MPs on the culture, media and sport committee will be able to test his claim – and examine the quality of the data on which it is based. |
| BBC Women, representing 170 of the 184 presenters and correspondents, including Mishal Husain, Martha Kearney and Jane Garvey, says it was not consulted on the report’s scope, terms of reference or methodology. It has submitted evidence to the committee that should shame senior BBC managers, including personal submissions from 14 women describing the panicked response of managers after the top pay gap was confirmed last summer. Some found pay rises being pressed upon them after years of demanding equal pay – but no compensation for lost benefits like pension contributions. Others report being offered one-off bonuses for “hard work” while requests for equality with male colleagues were still denied. The NUJ’s evidence to the committee quotes Samira Ahmed, the BBC Radio 4 arts presenter, describing the feeling of being paid much less for the same work for years “as though bosses had naked pictures of you in their office and laughed every time they saw you”. | BBC Women, representing 170 of the 184 presenters and correspondents, including Mishal Husain, Martha Kearney and Jane Garvey, says it was not consulted on the report’s scope, terms of reference or methodology. It has submitted evidence to the committee that should shame senior BBC managers, including personal submissions from 14 women describing the panicked response of managers after the top pay gap was confirmed last summer. Some found pay rises being pressed upon them after years of demanding equal pay – but no compensation for lost benefits like pension contributions. Others report being offered one-off bonuses for “hard work” while requests for equality with male colleagues were still denied. The NUJ’s evidence to the committee quotes Samira Ahmed, the BBC Radio 4 arts presenter, describing the feeling of being paid much less for the same work for years “as though bosses had naked pictures of you in their office and laughed every time they saw you”. |
| Nearly 45 years after it was introduced, the rate of progress towards genuinely equal pay for men and women, and black and minority ethnic workers, is still shockingly slow. Showing to the satisfaction of a tribunal judge that a man is paid more than a woman because – and only because – of their gender is invariably difficult. Underlying causes are emerging as more careful analysis of increasing amounts of data reveals patterns like the sudden opening up of the gap after motherhood. Occupational “crowding” often leads to higher pay for men than women. We know that gender discrimination and disadvantage does not begin and end with the pay packet. The Institute for Fiscal Studies will soon publish research on reasons behind inequality that will underline that pay legislation is necessary, but not sufficient. A gap persists even when work is like-for-like and other factors are controlled, and that must be addressed. | Nearly 45 years after it was introduced, the rate of progress towards genuinely equal pay for men and women, and black and minority ethnic workers, is still shockingly slow. Showing to the satisfaction of a tribunal judge that a man is paid more than a woman because – and only because – of their gender is invariably difficult. Underlying causes are emerging as more careful analysis of increasing amounts of data reveals patterns like the sudden opening up of the gap after motherhood. Occupational “crowding” often leads to higher pay for men than women. We know that gender discrimination and disadvantage does not begin and end with the pay packet. The Institute for Fiscal Studies will soon publish research on reasons behind inequality that will underline that pay legislation is necessary, but not sufficient. A gap persists even when work is like-for-like and other factors are controlled, and that must be addressed. |
| By the beginning of April all larger employers must have submitted gender pay audits to the government. The rate of submission so far is alarmingly slow and the quality of data is already being challenged. The government must be sure that all the claims have the evidence to support them. But change is never just about the law, and example matters. The BBC’s response of tinkering with the most glaring injustices by cutting the pay of a few famous men, and offering rises to some women, is an inadequate answer to the extent of inequality that has now been exposed. | By the beginning of April all larger employers must have submitted gender pay audits to the government. The rate of submission so far is alarmingly slow and the quality of data is already being challenged. The government must be sure that all the claims have the evidence to support them. But change is never just about the law, and example matters. The BBC’s response of tinkering with the most glaring injustices by cutting the pay of a few famous men, and offering rises to some women, is an inadequate answer to the extent of inequality that has now been exposed. |
| BBC | BBC |
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| Equal pay | Equal pay |
| Feminism | Feminism |
| Women | Women |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | PricewaterhouseCoopers |
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