The BBC presenter Carrie Gracie has said she could not collude in unlawful pay discrimination after resigning as the corporation’s China editor in protest at unequal remuneration. In her first full interview since leaving the post, Gracie said she was offered a 33% pay increase but rejected it, claiming she wanted equality, not more money. Speaking on Monday to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Gracie said: “I could not go back to China and collude knowingly in what I consider to be unlawful pay discrimination. Nor could I stay silent and watch the BBC perpetuate a failing pay structure by discriminating against women.”

She confirmed that she first lodged an equal pay complaint in August last year after the BBC was forced to disclose the salaries of employees earning more than £150,000 a year. In a letter to licence fee payers, Gracie said she was dismayed to discover the BBC’s two male international editors earned “at least 50% more” than their two female counterparts.(theguardian)…[+]