Female stars call on BBC to 'act now' to close gender pay gap

Some of the most high-profile female presenters at the BBC called on the head of Britain's public broadcaster on Sunday to "act now" to address a gender pay gap that sees it pay its top male star five times more than its best-paid female presenter. Reaching 95 percent of British adults every week and a global audience of 372 million, the BBC is a prized national asset but faces intense scrutiny over spending as its funding comes from a fee levied on TV viewers.
Its list of on-air employees earning at least 150,000 pounds ($195,555) numbered 96 people, two-thirds of them men, most earning more than women doing similar work. "You have said that you will "sort" the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years.