The BBC is facing backlash over claims that it is “disappearing women” by allowing its 50/50 male and female quota to be filled by transgender guests. The MailOnline has more.
BBC news presenter Ros Atkins is at the centre of a trans row following the corporation’s 50:50 project, an initiative he founded in 2017 that aims to increase the number of women on air and on screen.
The project has seen the BBC increase the salaries of some of its most high-profile women such as Zoe Ball and increase the number of female stars in its shows such as Line of Duty.
Mr. Atkins is accused of “going along with change” after the corporation stated in their latest Equality Project report that “they do not monitor whether a contributor’s gender differs from their sex registered at birth”.
The BBC guidance states: “Content-makers monitor the gender identity of their contributors with the aim of featuring at least 50% women. They do not monitor whether a contributor’s gender differs from their sex registered at birth.
“Where possible, teams also monitor the proportion of contributors who identify as non-binary or genderqueer in order to improve their representation of all genders. This data is not currently reported to 50:50 The Equality Project, but is used by these teams to improve their representation of all genders.“
BBC employees have blasted the corporation for “following Stonewall law” despite ditching the controversial LGBT charity’s Diversity Champion’s programme last year.
It means transgender women who are born male will be counted as females in the corporations 50:50 project that aims to “represent women”.
A senior BBC insider told the Telegraph: “The BBC has now ‘disappeared’ women as a sex class and instead monitors ‘gender identity’. It’s redefined a word which we all understand, without any public debate, and Ros Atkins has gone along with the change.
“In this 50:50 monitoring, the BBC is still following ‘Stonewall law’ in failing to respect sex as as a protected characteristic.”
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