Commitment is part of package of diversity measures following criticism that corporation is not reflecting its audience’s makeup

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The BBC has pledged that women will make up half the people who appear on its TV and radio stations and in leading on-screen roles by 2020.

The promise was made on Friday as part of a new package of diversity measures, and follows criticism that the BBC has not been doing enough to reflect the makeup of its audience.

The corporation also said half its 21,000-strong workforce and leadership would be female by 2020. Currently 48.4% of its staff are women, who make up 41.3% of senior management roles.

The BBC said 15% of staff and leadership would come from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds by 2020, with BAME people taking the same proportion of on-air and leading roles.



In addition it said disabled people would make up 8% and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people also 8%.

Earlier this week, the Labour MP and former culture minister David Lammy accused the corporation of moving too slowly, saying “despite good intentions, rhetoric has not been matched by real progress”.

It was revealed last month that the BBC was struggling to meet its own targets on diversity, with a tiny increase in minority employees over the past year and a decline in the number of disabled employees.

The BBC said by 2020 it would have a workforce that was “at least as diverse or more diverse than any in the industry” and “on-screen targets that cover a much wider range of diversity than any in the industry”.

BBC struggles to hit targets for staff diversity Read more

The on-air targets will apply to all genres from news to drama but will not be programme-specific, it added.

The BBC’s director general, Tony Hall, announced a series of initiatives to improve diversity in 2014, followed by a new range of measures earlier this year.

The corporation has resisted Lenny Henry’s call for a ring-fenced fund to be devoted solely to BAME talent.

The government has faced calls for diversity targets to be included in the white paper on the BBC’s new charter.

The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, said this week the issue was “something we take very seriously” but added: “I don’t believe in telling the BBC or setting quotas for the number of ethnic minority faces or older female faces … on screen or behind the camera.”