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Womans Hour host Jane Garvey says female presenters must demand more after shocking gender pay gap exposed at BBC

Official figures from the Beeb show its top-earning male star, Chris Evans, takes home a staggering 1.5million more than the highest-earning female presenter, Claudia Winkleman

[Radio 4 presenter Jane Garvey]

Radio 4 presenter Jane Garvey has hit out at her employer's gender pay gap

Female presenters must ask for more after a shocking gender pay gap was exposed at the BBC , Womans Hour host Jane Garvey said.

The veteran broadcaster led a revolt of hacked off women who have discovered their male counterparts are out-earning them, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Garvey, 53, said she felt a responsibility to lead the charge for equality, adding: Its all out now, and were not settling for the status quo.

Things have got to change. To be blunt, I say ask, dont just accept.

She added: I knew women at the top of the BBC earned less than men but I didnt know how much less they earned. I was really surprised the top five women are taking something like 1.8million, and the top five men over 6million. Thats a massive difference.

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Chris Evans is the highest earning male star with a 2.2million paycheck(Image: Getty)

With 3.7 million listeners weekly, Womans Hour is also BBC Radios second most popular daily podcast, beaten only by The Archers.

Garvey earns around 130,000 for her work on the show and on Radio 5 Live below the 150,000 cut-off above which the broadcaster has been forced to reveal salaries.

She admitted it is a good salary, but added: I dont earn as much as men presenting radio programmes which are not as successful or as significant as the one I present.

Im no idiot, I understand there are people whod kill for a job like mine, but Id just like to earn as much as a man presenting an equivalent radio programme.

The BBCs top-paid female star, Claudia Winkleman, is paid less than a quarter of the salary pocketed by its top-earning male host, Chris Evans, on at least 2.2million.

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Claudia Winkleman is the top earning woman with a salary of up to 500,000(Image: REUTERS)

Winkleman is in the 450,000-499,999 category, along with The One Shows Matt Baker, who also presents Countryfile.

Matts One Show co-host Alex Jones, the second best-paid woman, is in the category below for her work on the prime-time BBC1 show as well as on Shop Well for Less.

Garvey tweeted before her show on Radio 4 yesterday: Im looking forward to presenting Womans Hour today. Well be discussing the gender pay gap. As weve done since 1946. Going well, isnt it?

She warned women must stick together and support each other to win the pay they deserve.

She added: Its a time for women to really concentrate on helping other women.

There is a tendency for women sometimes to over-rate men, and carp about women. If we dont work together we will all lose out.

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The Beeb's highest earning actor is Casualty's Derek Thompson(Image: PA)

Highlighting the pay of the second highest earner, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, she blamed starry-eyed male bosses lavishing cash on their football hero.

She said: Lets face it, its men who deal with a lot of those contracts in TV sport. They are probably all excitable about being in the same room as someone who is Gary Lineker.

Earlier she tweeted: Radio 2...Extraordinarily male and entirely pale and big salaries.

It was retweeted by Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, whose salary was also not revealed. Charlotte Smith, who hosts Radio 4 show Farming Today as well as BBC1s Countryfile, wrote: Im happy to accept a pay rise to help the BBC out with its gender pay gap problem. Garvey agreed that was a lovely idea. Many stars were furiously contacting their agents yesterday to find out why they were not paid as much as their peers.

One agent said revolt was in the air over the obscene amounts being paid to top names.

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The BBC is at the centre of a gender pay gap row(Image: PA)

Some could sue over the discrepancy in pay.

Paula Chan, an employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said: These figures expose what appears to be a deeply troubling disparity in pay between men and women at one of the UKs most prominent publicly funded institutions, suggesting the pay gap within the BBC may be more significant than feared.

We anticipate a number of high-profile female employees will now be examining the figures and demanding an explanation as to why theyre being paid less than male colleagues.

She added: If the justification isnt satisfactory, equal pay claims may be taken, which would not only be costly but incredibly damaging to the reputation of the BBC.

Showbiz agent Jonathan Shalit said: If you can identify a man who is doing the same job as you on more money, then you will have a strong case to demand a pay rise. A few will try that and Im sure a few will succeed if they can prove theyve been treated unfairly.

Some actors were said to be stunned by the revelations over who gets paid what on EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City.

One soap agent said: For all those people trying to secure pay rises and being told there arent any, its a huge slap in the face.

A talent manager who supplies stars to both the BBC and ITV said: Many agents will lose their clients over this. Theyll have been telling them theyre well-paid compared to co-stars, when the reality was very much different.

Its like a bombs been let off. Angry phonecalls have been flying around.

Some stars are incredulous they are on so much less than colleagues.

Former BBC chairman Lord Michael Grade said the move to reveal pay would drive up costs.

He said: I can hear the phones ringing all over the UK today. Agents will be looking at the relative rates others are getting, clients are going to be up in arms, the competition will be looking at it. The net result of this is inflation. Theres only one way this can go. The talent salaries and wages will round upwards, they wont go down.

Insiders claim the revelations will lead to big pay cuts for some top-paid male stars but it would mean having to face down agents such as Michael Foster, who represents top earner Chris Evans.

Presenter Paul OGrady, 62, claimed it was a Tory plot to bring down the BBC. He said: I think its rotten doing that, printing peoples salaries. Its to do with this government, who are so against the BBC, its a way of knocking them.

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