Harman slams BBC over older women (From Haringey Independent)

Harman slams BBC over older women

12:31am Tuesday 9th February 2010

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The BBC needs to "wake up" to the dearth of older females on its programmes, Women and Equality Minister Harriet Harman has said.

The House of Commons leader said older women have disappeared from the small screen - much to the irritation of viewers.

Echoing previous comments she made on the issue, Ms Harman wrote in the Radio Times: "No-one wants the BBC to be a gerontocracy, dominated by elders. But the BBC doesn't allow women to age. If you add up the ages of BBC news presenters, it seems that the women have to be ten years younger than the men."

She said: "Instead of women becoming more prominent on our BBC programmes as they get older, they seem to disappear.

"This is a waste of female broadcasting talent and annoying to older viewers... There is nothing wrong with older women. There is nothing wrong with older women who look like older women.

"I am glad that at least it does seem possible for the BBC to value older men: David Dimbleby and Bruce Forsyth spring to mind. But where are the older women?"

The MP added: "You have to be experienced to anchor a big programme like Any Questions or This Week.

"But the women are pushed off our screens before they reach their fifties. When they are young they are not experienced enough to anchor these sorts of programmes. When they are older they are dispatched as 'past it'.

"It's not good enough to have the man on the screen as the authoritative figure supported by a youthful, compliant woman.

"The BBC needs to have 'an Arlene Phillips' rule to remind themselves of the women on the BBC who just get better and better."

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