What is the BBC's problem with women?

Blogger

Wednesday 11 January 2012

There's something odd going on at the BBC and I can't decide if the cause of it is institutional ineptness, deliberate provocation, or something more insidious.

I've never been shy of banging on about the lack of women commentators on Newsnight Scotland. All too often, we get an all bloke affair: I've lost count of the number of times this has happened and it was only after concerted criticism that a fleeting attempt was made to rectify matters.

Indeed, we even had one programme where every single person involved was a woman. Imagine. But to invite the male-dominated world of sports journalism and to throw in a few lads' mags to boot to determine the shortlist beggars belief. And to then allow a shortlist to be created that does not contain a single woman, thereby explicitly indicating that no woman is worthy of the honour, was frankly shocking. But take all the slights practised on one half of the population of the British isles by the state broadcaster together and it should be causing brows to furrow and explanations to be sought. Ignoring for one moment that women pay the same licence fee as men do, and also setting aside the fact that as a public body the BBC is bound by the same sort of equality duties as local councils and the NHS, at any level, how can this inability to represent women fairly and equally in a whole host of ways be appropriate? Does nobody join up individual decisions to see the sum of the parts? Has everyone just got very lazy? Are the managers being deliberately provocative (after all, it's got people talking about the BBC)? Or is there institutional sexism operating at the heart of the state broadcaster? An audit would be useful - let's flush out just how many women there are in the different spheres that comprise the Beeb who have any influence. We know about the ones who make it to the top and who are trotted out to show how squeaky clean the broadcaster is on equal opps, but what about the rungs of the ladder that are hidden from view? Better still, the men on that committee, who of course outnumber the women, should lead the charge. The last thing we want is for the BBC's problem with women becoming seen and then dismissed as a women's issue.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

What is the BBC's problem with women?

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED