Leading independent reputation management consultancy Lansons announces its partnership with the BBC 50:50 Project.
The BBC 50:50 Project was set up to help increase the representation of women in English-language news, current affairs and topical programmes by April 2019. Over 500 BBC teams are now part of the Project. Its huge internal success led to the BBC working to help other organisations in the UK and the US roll out the initiative. The 22 BBC 50:50 founding partners include Lansons, the Financial Times, and Fortune.
Lansons, now in its 30th year, has a 68% female workforce and this gender balance is also reflected in its management and ownership structure. As part of its commitment to the project, Lansons will review female representation cross the events it hosts every year while continuing to seek to place female spokespeople with key media outlets on behalf of its national and international clients. Lansons will also be going a step further, reviewing BAME representation at events.
Commenting on the news, Pearl Doherty, Director, Lansons said: “Our partnership with the BBC felt like a natural continuation of our commitment to equal opportunities. Lansons has championed gender equality throughout its 30-year history, and we are proud to lead our industry with a virtually no gender pay gap (0.8%; the industry average is15%). The BBC 50:50 Project is a fantastic initiative.”
He continued: We encourage businesses and organisations to commit to being part of this change too by taking steps to monitor and address the representation of female spokespeople in their organisations. They can get in touch with us or with the BBC team (5050project@bbc.co.uk) to find out how.”
BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: “I want the BBC to lead the way on equality and fairness, and this project demonstrates what can be achieved. Better representation is something the whole media industry needs to address so I’m really pleased others are now following us and adopting this project for their own organisation.
