Culture

BBC editor Carrie Gracie quits over 'secretive and illegal' gender pay structure

January 08, 2018 11:28·
Carrie Gracie

Carrie Gracie

The BBC's China editor has resigned her position in Beijing in protest over what she called a failure to sufficiently address a gap in compensation between men and women at the public broadcaster.

"The BBC must admit the problem, apologize and set in place an equal, fair and transparent pay structure", Gracie wrote.

Gracie said she was dismayed to discover that the BBC's two male global editors earned "at least 50 per cent more" than its two female counterparts.

Gracie, who has been at the BBC for more than 30 years, said it was facing a "crisis of trust", after it was revealed that two-thirds of its stars earning more than 150,000 pounds a year were male. But last July I learned that in the previous financial year, the two men earned at least 50% more than the two women.

"In a letter posted on her blog, Gracie accused the BBC of 'breaking equality law" and announced that she was quitting her job after serving the organization for three decades.

More than 40 of the corporation's most high-profile female names, including presenters Clare Balding and Victoria Derbyshire, signed a letter calling for immediate change.

After the report was published, Gracie said she told her bosses "the only acceptable resolution would be for all worldwide editors to be paid the same amount", she writes.

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In a statement, a BBC spokesperson said "fairness in pay" at the corporation "is vital".

"I told my bosses the only acceptable resolution would be for all the global editors to be paid the same amount".

"I have been subjected to a dismayingly incompetent and undermining grievance process which still has no outcome", writes the journalist.

The China specialist, who is fluent in Mandarin, left her role as editor of the Beijing bureau last week, but will remain with the BBC, returning to her former post in the TV newsroom "where I expect to be paid equally".

"Bob Hudson added: "What an indignity for poor @bbccarrie sitting next to overpaid Humprhys while he discusses her resignation with @mariellaf1 on #r4today".

In a letter addressed to BBC Audiences, Gracie alleged that up to 200 women had filed pay complaints and warned licence fee-payers that, should the corporation fail to deal with the "shocking" pay gap effectively, it risked "wasting your licence fee on an unwinnable court fight against female staff". She cited the U.K. Equality Act 2010, which states men and women doing equal work should receive equal pay.

In response, the BBC said recently published gender pay figures showed it was "performing considerably better than many and are well below the national average".

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