BBC moves towards quotas for women in broadcasting: abbatoir workers, as you were
SHOULD there be quotas for men and women? If men are under-represented on a board of panel, should there be more men? Alice Arnold, the former BBC Radio 4 newsreader and BBC presenter Clare Balding’s civil partner, has said that a “quota for female radio hosts is the only way to achieve equality”.
Do we need quotas to ensure more woman work in abattoirs and road building? What about more men on make-up counters and supermarket check-outs? Quotas?
Tony Hall, the BBC’s Director General, says:
“We have got to be more reflective of the audiences who are listening to our programmes. That is why by the end of 2014 I would like to see half of our Local Radio stations with a woman presenting on the Breakfast shows.”
Arnold says:
“Without a directive of a quota from above, the figure of 50 per cent will simply never be achieved. Not because there are not good women out there, there are plenty, but they have to be sought out and given the opportunity…Women broadcasters are as good as male broadcasters. This is a fact. But we are fighting a history of sexism in broadcasting and in life that has gone on ever since the transistor radio took pride of place in the parlour.”
Won’t it be just as sexist to make rules that bar men from doing a job?
Posted: 16th, September 2013 | In: TV & Radio Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
