BBC’s China editor resigns over gender pay gap dispute

Carrie Gracie at the BBC World Service (2010) (Cropped) (Photo By Joi Ito from Cambridge, MA, USA – Annette Mackenzie and Carrie Gracie at the BBC World Service, CC BY 2.0)

BEIJING — The BBC’s China editor has resigned her position in Beijing in protest over what she called a failure to sufficiently address a gap in compensation between men and women at the public broadcaster.

Carrie Gracie’s departure is the latest aftershock from the public corporation’s forced publication last year of pay levels for its top earners that showed two-thirds of those in the top bracket were men.

A 30-year veteran of the BBC, Gracie said in a statement on her website addressed to BBC viewers that she could no longer perform her job at a high level while battling with bosses over pay equality.

Gracie said she learned that two of the BBC’s four international editors — both men — made at least 50 per cent more than their two female counterparts.