ITN reveals 19.6% gender pay gap, with 77% gulf in male and female bonuses
ITN's mean gender pay gap has been revealed at 19.6% in favour of men. Even more telling is a 77% gap in average bonuses, underlining a lack of women in top jobs at the broadcast news business.
Cathy Newman, Channel 4 presenter, speaks out
The statistics were revealed by Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, whose output is produced by ITN (in addition to ITV News and Channel 5’s).
She said: “I’m very fortunate to be fairly paid but I will continue speaking out for the many colleagues who aren't.
Newman revealed that 17 of the 20 highest paid roles in the company went to men. Channel 4’s Siobhan Kennedy also pitched in claiming the deficit was “up there with Barclays and worse than RBS. Problem as ever not enough women in senior roles”.
In a statement shared with The Drum, ITN chief executive John Hardie said: “In common with many companies our gender pay gap is mainly caused by having fewer women than men in senior leadership roles and we know that we have to work even harder to address this.
"We are putting in place tough targets, including halving our pay gap within five years, alongside initiatives that will empower and support women in order to progress their careers.
"Solving these long-term issues will not happen overnight but ITN is committed to tackling the root causes in order to provide a culture in which everyone’s voice is heard and the path to the top is open to all.”
A report that will be published tomorrow will state that the pay gap was significantly more balanced in lower earning quartiles. It says that 44% of ITN staff are women and 56% are men and underlines that the company will introduce measures to ensure there are opportunities for women to reach its top tier.
In the next five years, ITN has committed to ensuring 50% of the 20 top earners in the company are women; 33% of these roles are to be filled in the next three years.
Furthermore, the media firm will be publishing salary bands to help further transparency. Women returning from paternity leave will also have their income reviewed. Mentoring and development programmes will also be produced, according to the report.
UK companies with 250 or more staff must publish a snapshot of their gender pay gap by April in compliance with government regulation. Earlier this month, Trinity Mirror's median gender pay gap was revealed to be 15%, and too it had more males in senior figures skewing the balance.
Meanwhile two thirds of the BBC's highest paid staff were revealed to be men in January, news that saw the corporation lose its China editor Carrie Gracie.