Is BBC's Massive Pay Gap Between Wimbledon Pundits Martina Navratilova & John McEnroe Justified
/Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, winner of nine Wimbledon Ladies' championship trophies shares her furor over discovering the full extent of BBC pay discrimination in an interview airing Monday night, writes The Guardian. In an interview for Panorama: Britain's Equal Pay Scandal, Navratilova reveals her shock when she discovered that John McEnroe is paid 10 times as much as she is for covering Wimbledon for the BBC.
Navratilova tells Panorama that she was paid about £15,000, while McEnroe's published salary revealed last summer is between £150,000 and £199,999.
Navratilova said she was told she was getting paid a comparable amount to men doing the same job as her, adding: “We were not told the truth, that’s for sure.” “It’s still the good old boys’ network ... The bottom line is that male voices are valued more than women’s voices,” she said, adding that her agent will ask for more money in the future.
BBC Sport defended the discrepancy, saying McEnroe’s role was of “a different scale, scope and time commitment”, to Navratilova, adding: “They are simply not comparable.”
A spokeswoman said: “Along with Sue Barker, John is regarded as the face of our Wimbledon coverage. He is a defining voice within the BBC’s coverage. He is widely considered to be the best expert/commentator in the sport, highly valued by our audiences and his contract means he cannot work for another UK broadcaster without our permission. His pay reflects all of this – gender isn’t a factor.”
This leads us to ask about Sue Barker's salary, which was listed in the £300,000 - £349,999 bracket in last year's revelations about alleged gender-based salary discrepancies. It's also a fact that exclusivity does command a high price. To be continued . . .