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BBC Female Anchors Call for Filling Gap in Salaries | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Media ID: 55379513
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Barriers near to the main entrance of the BBC headquarters and studios in Portland Place, London, Britain, July 16, 2015. (Reuters)


London – Top male stars working in at the BBC are paid five times more than its best-paid female anchors. Some of the most high-profile female presenters at the BBC have therefore called on the head of Britain’s public broadcaster on Sunday to “act now” to address a gender pay gap.

Reaching 95 percent of British adults every week and with a global audience of 372 million, the BBC is a prized national asset, but faces intense scrutiny over spending as its funding comes from a fee levied on TV viewers.

Its list of on-air employees earning at least 150,000 pounds ($195,555) numbered 96 people, two-thirds of them men, most earning more than women doing similar work.

More than 40 women told the BBC’s director general, Tony Hall in a letter: “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.”

The BBC did not want to disclose information, which it said would make it easier for rival broadcasters to poach talent, but bowed last week to the government’s demand to publish the salaries of its highest earners.