Just 18% of UK television presenters over 50 are women, study finds

Harriet Harman accuses TV industry of ageism and sexism, saying female presenters' days on screen are numbered after 50
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Anna Ford, the former newsreader,
Anna Ford, the former newsreader, queried BBC contracts for 'charming dinosaurs' David Dimbleby and John Simpson. 'I fail to see any woman of the same age, the same intelligence and the same rather baggy looks.' Photograph: Rex Features

Fewer than one in five presenters at major broadcasters over the age of 50 are women, a new study reveals.

Research compiled from figures taken from the main UK broadcasters found that just 18% of presenters over 50 are women. BBC television and radio, Sky, ITN and Channel 5 combined have just 26 women over 50 working as regular on-air presenters out of a total of 481 presenters.

Overall, women over 50 make up just 5% of on-screen presenters of all ages and both sexes and 7% of the workforce, both on and off screen.

Senior executives at the BBC, ITV, ITN, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky are to meet members of the Older Women's Commission on Thursday to discuss what can be done to end such discrimination.

Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy and the shadow culture secretary, accused the TV industry of ageism and sexism. "It really is a black hole … Broadcasters behave as though the viewing public have to be protected from the sight of an older woman and that's just rude. There is nothing wrong with being an older woman.

"We've got to fight back against this sense that older women are less valuable, whereas men accumulate wisdom, authority and experience as they age."

Harman launched the commission last year to consider the experience of older women with a focus on three main areas: women in the workplace, carers and women in public life.

This latter group is chaired by Miriam O'Reilly, former presenter of the BBC's Countryfile, who won a landmark ageism case against the BBC two years ago.

She told the Guardian: "There is still ageism in TV. We need to get to a position where women are not being shown the door simply because of their age and it is just as unacceptable to drop someone because of age as it is for their ethnicity."

There are 188 women working as regular presenters overall, or 39% of the total, but the vast majority of these are under 50. "The figures provided by broadcasters show clearly that once female presenters hit 50, their days on screen are numbered," said Harman.

"There is a combination of ageism and sexism that hits women on TV that doesn't apply to men in the same way."

The statistics cover all programmes from morning chatshows to prime-time flagship news programmes such as the News at Ten. ITV provided to the commission percentages which suggested a greater equality, but no numbers. Channel 4 buys in all its programming and so had no data to provide.

There is a saying in television that if you haven't made it into the industry by 30, don't bother, and if you're still there by 45 it's something of a miracle. Today's figures suggest that only applies if you are a woman.

Several high-profile female presenters have complained about their treatment by broadcasters once they reached a certain age. Selina Scott was awarded £250,000 after she sued Channel 5 for ageism in 2008, when she was 57, while Anna Ford left the BBC in 2006 aged 62, claiming she had been sidelined because of her age.

In the wake of a multimillion-pound contract for David Dimbleby, now 74, two years ago, Ford said: "I wonder how these charming dinosaurs such as Mr Dimbleby and John Simpson [68] continue to procure contracts with the BBC, when, however hard I look, I fail to see any woman of the same age, the same intelligence and the same rather baggy looks."

This week the actor Julie Walters accused broadcasters of ageism: "We'll always have to campaign against why, for instance, older men on TV news programmes tend to be paired up with younger women. Where's Anna Ford is what I say. But it is changing and gradually evolving. There is still ageism in our industry and we have a long way to go, but it's getting better."

With so much recent publicity over the issue, the surprise for some will be the fact that there are so few women over 50 in television either on or off air.

O'Reilly, who is standing for selection for the Labour party in Nuneaton, said: "These figures raise the obvious questions of where have all the older women gone and why did they go? Was it their choice to leave their jobs or was it a decision forced upon them?

"The broadcasters say they are committed to the fair representation of older women, but the figures don't bear that out. I'd like to know the reasons why so many talented women have disappeared, while their male counterparts have grown older and still have their jobs."

O'Reilly's earlier criticism provoked the ire of well-known men including Rowan Atkinson, who said BBC bosses should be free to pick the best person for the job regardless of age or sex, and Nick Ross, the former Crimewatch presenter who said that television was a "young person's medium for those behind the screen as well as those in front".

A BBC survey last year suggested that viewers were concerned by the lack of middle-aged and older women on TV. It found the audience would "welcome more middle- and older-aged women on television providing positive role models and greater gender equality". Harman said she had heard repeated tales of harassment against older women, saying it "takes a distinct form and is an entrenched part of our culture, which devalues older women and suggests that they are past it".

Harman said she was encouraged by the participation of the broadcasters in the survey. "They recognise that they have got to change," she said. "But warm words will not be enough. They need to recognise that they have to change, not just by recruiting more older women but not pushing out the older women they've got."

Women in broadcasting graphic

'I was victimised'

In the lead-up to my tribunal against the BBC, I knew it would help to know how many women over 50 broadcasters employed. They wouldn't give me this information, citing data-protection issues. So I have enjoyed being involved in getting the answers out of them. And to see that this is not just about prime-time shows and news and current affairs but is across all output.

I have spoken to women for the Older Women's Commission who have been "managed out". One of them spoke about how she felt so sidelined and undermined she just tried to keep her head down for about 18 months before taking redundancy.

I was victimised because I spoke out about age discrimination at the BBC. There was an ongoing campaign of bullying. People don't like women who speak out about the treatment of older women.

Broadcasters who are women over 50 have to assert themselves in their role so they can't just be got rid of simply because of their age. Some women at the BBC have since said that I have given them years extra in their jobs, saying "They won't dare to do this to me because of you." I hope so.

I am hoping it will give these women the courage to go grey if they want to, to go without Botox too – to age as men are allowed to age on TV. I hope this gives them the confidence to do that.

I am white-haired now and it looks fantastic. But I never would have dared to stop dying my hair while at the BBC.

George Entwistle [the last director general] said he'd like me to be in a prime-time broadcasting role but it was just a PR exercise, he never meant it. All broadcasters say they are committed to the fair representation of older women but clearly they are not. They can't make that statement now we have these figures.

What we need now is actions, not words. There needs to be lasting and sincere change in the industry.

Miriam O'Reilly was speaking to Jane Martinson

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