One of BBC’s most prominent female presenters, Samira Ahmed, has kicked off 2020 by winning a £400k settlement and an apology from the BBC after being treated with discrimination by the corporation for years.
The BBC has been facing equal pay lawsuits since 2017 when the corporation was forced to start publishing the salaries of the high-earning presenters and reporters. Consequently, this revealed the wide gap between the salaries of many prominent journalists at the corporation leading many women to notice just how underpaid they are. Until now, when Samira decided to finally break her silence and become the first woman among a number of other claims from BBC female staff members to make it to court; most of them usually chose to settle cases before they even reach court.
According to The Guardian, “An employment tribunal unanimously concluded that the BBC had failed to provide convincing evidence that the pay gap was for reasons other than gender discrimination, although the BBC continues to dispute this”
Samira told The Guardian that she’s glad that the case is finally resolved after many years of dispute – “I love working for the BBC. No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer.” However, the BBC is still subject to an ongoing investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission due to claims of payment inequality between male and female staff.