The BBC has revealed three women have moved into its top 10 list of highest paid stars – compared to none last year.
Claudia Winkleman, Zoe Ball and Vanessa Feltz all joined the elite group which is still topped by Match of the Day host Gary Lineker.
This is the first time since presenter salaries were disclosed in 2017 that women have made the top 10.
BBC director general Tony Hall said: “The BBC has turned the corner on gender pay.
“When we first published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women.
“The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.”
However, a statement from #BBCWomen said: “There has been some progress in the last two years, but many women at all levels of the BBC are locked into slow, inefficient and demoralising internal processes.
Former Radio 2 breakfast show host Chris Evans, who left the corporation in December, is still featured among the highest earners.
He was succeeded by Ball and her figure will only reflect what she earned for hosting the show in the first three months of the year, as well as her earnings for the Saturday show she hosted before that.
Defending Lineker’s salary and asked if the BBC would ask the sports pundit to take a pay cut next year, Lord Hall said: “Every time contracts come up we look at them, we negotiate hard with people but Gary does do an excellent job.
“People and our audiences, when we ask them, want us to employ great people but overall our talent bill is coming down and it’s 0.5% of our overall spend… the bill is coming down, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t employ great people who entertain us, who inform us, who educate us.”
The corporation’s overall gender pay gap is down from 7.6% to 6.7% and salary differences between women and men are 3% or less at every single band.
Top 10 earners:
1 Gary Lineker – £1,750,000 – £1,754,999
2 Chris Evans – £1,250,000 – £1,254,999
3 Graham Norton – £610,000 – £614,999
4 Huw Edwards – £490,000 – £494,999
5 Steve Wright – £465,000 – £469,999
6 Alan Shearer – £440,000 – £444,999
7 Andrew Marr – £390,000 – £394,999
8= Claudia Winkleman – £370,000 – £374,999
8= Zoe Ball – £370,000 – £374,999
9= Vanessa Feltz – £355,000 – £359,999
9= Jason Mohammed – £355,000 – £359,999
10 Nicky Campbell – £340,000 – £345,999
Source : Sky News : http://news.sky.com/story/revealed-bbcs-top-paid-stars-and-the-women-who-join-the-list-11755066