BBC presenter Carrie Gracie slams ‘pay secrecy’ in the workplace and says women would rather talk to strangers about sex than how much they earn
- Carrie Gracie, 57, condemned ‘pay secrecy’ in workplace labelling it ‘astonishing’
- She quit BBC China Editor post after finding out she was earning less than males
- Yesterday she insisted it was down to women to ‘own your own worth’ at work
Women are happier to talk to strangers about sex than their pay, BBC news presenter Carrie Gracie said last night.
She condemned ‘pay secrecy’ in the workplace, saying it tended to work against women.
‘Many employers encourage pay secrecy, through culture and contractual clauses, we feel quite taboo about money – we’re happier to talk about sex with strangers rather than money!’ she said. ‘It’s astonishing, the degree to which we are inhibited about this.’
Carrie Gracie has been a key figure within the BBC as the driving force behind initiating change over gender and equal pay issues
Carrie Gracie was among those supporting Samira Ahmed as she arrived at the Central London Employment Tribunal to attend an equal pay case hearing against the BBC
Miss Gracie, 57, quit the post of BBC China Editor last year after finding out she was earning less than her male counterparts. She still works at the BBC.
Yesterday she insisted it was down to women to ‘own your own worth’ at work. ‘You have to be vigilant about your own worth, you have to think about it, you have to talk about it to yourself, talk about it with other people, you have to talk about it with your boss,’ she said.
‘And then, when you peel back the onion of that, you realise it’s a very lifelong issue for girls and for women.’
She told the Bazaar At Work Summit that it was ‘very hard’ for her to realise that the BBC had not being paying her equally.
She said: ‘Pay secrecy doesn’t really work in favour of women so it’s astonishing that women are such a big part of propping it up.’