Impact Report 2020 THE EQUALITY PROJECT 53% 52% March 2020 March 2020 Women performers, Women performers, Scottish Symphony Orchestra National Orchestra of Wales 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 1 Foreword Tony Hall, BBC Director-General The BBC’s role in national life has never mattered What started as a simple idea introduced on one more. We have focused all of our efforts into keeping programme in the BBC newsroom, has unleashed a surge everybody informed, educated and entertained of creativity and innovation across the BBC and in our throughout the coronavirus emergency. partner organisations. Put simply, it’s making our work better. Like so many organisations we’ve had to put many things on hold. But when it comes to the 50:50 Project, From BBC World Service to our local radio breakfast our teams have proved how agile, tenacious and shows, and across our genres from news and science imaginative they can be in continuing to drive for the to entertainment and sport, this report is packed with very best, most inclusive range of experts, contributors evidence that 50:50 is working. Sometimes this isn’t and guests. easy, but BBC teams are showing it is possible. This 50:50 Report is a moment of the utmost significance We are also joining forces with some of the most for the BBC. It demonstrates the collective power of our prestigious journalism schools in the world to connect teams to drive profound change in how we work and 50:50 with the next generation of journalists. We are what we make. seeking to work with 50 leading global businesses, to add to those already involved. And we’ll partner with The results in this report are a measure of the impact public service broadcasters on every continent. Together that 50:50 has had on the BBC’s content and culture. In we can ensure that the media we all consume represents March 2020, two-thirds of teams reached at least 50% the world we live in. women in their output, that’s an increase of a third on where they began. This transformation is long-term and 50:50 has become a movement driven by the creativity, sustainable, and we know our audiences are noticing passion and determination of thousands of people and valuing the shift. around the world. I would like to thank every leader, creator and contributor who is taking part. You are This report also demonstrates important lessons leading extraordinary change and the BBC is absolute in about when and how organisations change course. I’m its commitment to it. immensely proud that London Business School and Harvard Kennedy School will soon publish a study of why 50:50 has proved so successful. 2 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 The BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury 2019 featured 50% 50% women 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 3 Executive Summary 5 CONTENTS Methodology 7 Challenge Findings 8 Inside the BBC 10 Audience Research 20 The Future of 50:50 21 Beyond the BBC 23 Appendix 30 4 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 50% March 2020 42% First entry Women contributors, BBC News at Six 51% 53% March 2020 March 2020 40% 38% First entry Women contributors, First entry Women contributors, BBC Breakfast the BBC News Channel 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 5 Executive Summary The 50:50 Project inspires and supports content- The data strongly indicates that cultural change is Two-thirds makers to represent women and men equally. taking hold at the BBC, and that it is sustainable. It is the BBC’s biggest ever collective action to Two-thirds of datasets reached 50% women reached increase women’s representation in its content. contributors for the challenge month of March 2020. Of the teams who have been part of the 50% women In May 2019, the BBC committed to making initiative for at least two years, 78% reached that action global. This grassroots initiative contributors in 50% female representation in March 2020. Some has now grown to include more than 60 other 93% of those datasets reached above 45% female organisations in 20 countries – across media, March 2020 representation. academia, communications and business. The 50:50 Project contributes towards the BBC’s The BBC also set its second 50:50 Challenge: responsibility to ensure our content truly reflects Could BBC teams prove that reaching 50% our audiences. The Corporation aims to reach women contributors was sustainable, and how 50% women on-screen, on-air and in lead roles many could hit that mark in March 2020? across all genres from Drama to Sport to News, Hundreds of BBC teams geared up for 50:50 and this report provides evidence of that ongoing Challenge month. Then in March, the world went commitment. into lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC’s output was streamlined to core services only - meaning a reduced number of outlets were able to continue monitoring. 6 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 50% March 2020 27% First entry Women contributors, BBC Nepali Radio 50% March 2020 20% First entry Women contributors, BBC Hindi front page photos 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 7 Methodology 50:50 is a voluntary, self-monitoring Measure what you control Never compromise on quality system designed to fit into existing We only count the contributors that we The best contributor is always used, workflows. control. In news content, we do not count regardless of their impact on a team’s It is simple and flexible with three people who are integral to the news 50:50 numbers. Editorial excellence is core principles underpinning the stories of the day. For example, we do not always the priority. The 50:50 Project methodology. count the Prime Minister when giving enables teams to identify topic areas a speech or the only eyewitness to an where women are under-represented. It We collect data to drive change event. We cannot tell the stories without has also given content-makers further these people and we have no control over encouragement to continually seek new Data is at the heart of the 50:50 Project. who they are. Everyone else counts – voices and different perspectives to Teams monitor the numbers of men reporters, analysts, academics, experts, better reflect the audiences they serve and women in their content to set case studies and anyone who appears in and strengthen the BBC’s output. benchmarks and track their progress. our original journalism and features. If a The data is based on the perception of contributor appears multiple times in a the person counting. It is collected at the single programme or piece, they will only time of publication or very soon after. count once. Everyone who does count, Teams then share monthly percentage counts as one. 52% data with the rest of the BBC in a spirit of March 2020 positive competition and collaboration. 27% First entry Women contributors, Asia Business Report 8 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 Challenge Findings The BBC’s second ‘50:50 Challenge Month’ took place in BBC content featuring 50% women March 2020. The data indicates there has been a shift in the Performance of datasets in first month of reporting and representation of women in BBC content and that this shift is March 2020 sustainable. During March the global lockdown caused by the coronavirus First 34% 14% 19% 33% pandemic began and the BBC streamlined some of its output. entry While the vast majority of teams continued monitoring, March 66% 16% 10% 8% some teams were no longer able to continue with the 50:50 2020 Challenge Month 50% women 45–49% 40–44% Under 40% Teams in the 50:50 Challenge and above By the end of March 2020, 600 teams across all content Proving Consistency divisions of the BBC had signed up to the Project – including news, entertainment, sport and science. The 50:50 Project also set a ‘Consistency Challenge’ for teams to maintain equal representation over a longer period of time. Two-thirds of datasets reached 50% women contributors Over the six months between October 2019 and March 2020, for the challenge month of March 2020. Based on their start we asked teams to feature 50% women contributors for at months, that is an increase of 32 percentage points. least three months and at least 45% women contributors in the other months. Some 36% of datasets filing monthly data succeeded in this challenge. This is a marked improvement on the previous year when 18% of datasets were able to achieve the same targets for the period of October 2018 to March 2019. 50:50 THE EQUALITY PROJECT – IMPACT REPORT 2020 9 Improvement over time Focus on World Service Languages Bringing about meaningful change takes time. The 50:50 The first 50:50 Challenge in 2019 was set for English-language Project’s 2019 report suggested that the more time a team services, with the BBC World Service language teams piloting spends monitoring their contributors, the more likely they the monitoring. This year the non-English services took on the are to improve the proportion of women appearing in their 50:50 Challenge, showing cultural difference is not a barrier to content. increasing female representation. The March 2020 results further support this. The half- Of the 95 World Service Language datasets, 65% reached yearly breakdowns show that more teams reach 50% female the target in March 2020, which is in line with the rest of the representation the longer they take part in the 50:50 Project.