Where are all the women over 50?
Good for Olenka Frenkiel who has spoken out about the way older women are treated by the BBC. An award-winning reporter with over 30-years experience, she was forced out of the organization but refused to sign a gagging clause. Two years later, Frenkiel is finally able to speak out. This story is featured on the front page of today’s Guardian, I know making a stand against ageism and sexism is not easy, but we need more women like Olenka Frenkiel and Miriam O’Reilly (who won an employment tribunal against the Beeb) to tell it like it is. And we need the BBC to set a better example.
More on the story here.
Discussion (10 Comments)
So all these over 50 women who call themselves 'reporters' or 'journalists' didn't want to cause a fuss?!?!?! And finally after a oouple of years speak out?!?! Obviously the BBC needs women with a lot more moxie. If you need an example of an over 50 woman with the guts of a cat burglar, look at Sharyl Atkisson, she's no candy ass…the boys at CBS tried to muzzle her and she's putting their dick in a sling!
Tiina – things are a lot fairer and more equal in Scandinavia, wish it was more like that over here!
GSL – good for her! I don't think Olenka Frenkiel was able to speak out before now, she's been going through a tribunal.
Only goes to show how far we have to go and……it pains me to say this, how little real progress has been made. If the world of journalism struggles with women of a certain age, God help everywhere else. I do think though that women have to take some responsibility and not be so accepting of the crumbs thrown to them…..heavy stuff for a Sunday!
It's so sad that this is still an issue. I'm sick of seeing old men continue their fading careers at the BBC and other media channels well into their dotage while women get sidelined at the first sign of a grey hair. Get real BBC, and represent the true demographic of this country. Time to ditch the dreary male dinosaurs in favour of a few older, wiser and far more interesting ladies.
I don't generally watch daytime TV, but have caught the odd Loose Women, which I think degenerated into sheer stupidity. However, I tuned in the other day, merely to watch Lynda Bellingham's last appearance and was heartened to see that the line-up had changed for the better: to the older presenters, who displayed a much more mature and sensible approach. They are much more watchable. Please learn, BBC.
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This is a very important issue, and a bit shocking, too. I also read the Guardian article, and was particularly struck by the journalist telling how she took unpaid maternity leave… Or that having a child was somehow unexpected in her job. Now I feel that my pampered Scandinavian world view got a nasty reminder that we still need feminists… I know, we all take our own cultural norms as standard, and coming from a country were middle-aged news anchors of both sexes are not just normal but the norm, does not exactly prepare me for a different reality…