BBC 'must treat older women better'

The BBC has 'a case to answer' about the way older women are treated on the air, the broadcaster's director-general has said.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mark Thompson said that while the number of older women in top leadership roles at the BBC has increased in recent years, they are still underrepresented in top programmes and presenting roles.

Mr Thompson said: 'The BBC is in a different class from everyone else, and the public have every right to expect it to deliver to a higher standard of fairness and open-mindedness in its treatment both of its broadcasters and its audiences.

'If the BBC isn't prepared to take this issue more seriously, what hope is there that others will start to do so?'

The issue was highlighted last month after it was announced that ex-Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly would be leaving the BBC, a year after she won an employment tribunal against the broadcaster on the grounds of ageism.

Mr Thompson called the landmark decision an 'important wake-up for the whole BBC'.

Copyright Press Association 2012