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Age shall not wither you... unless you’re a female TV presenter
AGE discrimination against women in the workplace, particularly those who ply their trade in TV, has been a hot topic in recent years.
When newsreader Anna Ford resigned in 2006, admitting she feared being “shovelled” into the graveyard shift at the age of 62, the BBC found itself in the spotlight over its treatment of older presenters.
The year after Ford’s departure, Moira Stuart followed suit, after being dropped from the current affairs programme Sunday AM, and when Arlene Phillips, then 66, was replaced by a much younger model – 30-year-old Alesha Dixon – on Strictly Come Dancing, the corporation had to defend itself against accusations of ageism.
Even June Whitfield, not known as a malcontent, accused the BBC of ignoring its older viewers when it emerged the long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine was to be axed. The BBC has repeatedly said it values the experience of its older employees but the issue was back in the news last year when Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly won an age discrimination case against the corporation.
It’s not only the BBC that has been embroiled in unwanted publicity. Selina Scott reached a settlement with Channel Five after claiming bosses told her she was too old to replace newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky during maternity leave and, from her home in rural North Yorkshire she has become a vocal critic of the “Machiavellian tactics” she says have been used to oust presenters deemed past their peak.
Kirsty Young has rekindled the debate this week by saying she can’t get worked up by complaints that TV bosses discriminate against older women. In an interview with the Radio Times, the 43-year-old Desert Island Discs host says she didn’t get her big break – at the age of 27, presenting Channel 5 news – for being attractive. “I know I didn’t get the job (at Channel 5) because of my looks, which are average, but because they thought I could do the job,” she said. “The idea that you have to be young and beautiful to be on TV is boring, although when you see (former Strictly Come Dancing judge) Arlene Phillips being hoicked off, there’s probably still an argument. It’s not a drum I want to beat. I don’t wake up and think I must storm the barricades, although I don’t want to be told in 10 years that I’m not allowed on television.”
Those who say age discrimination in the media has become less of an issue can point to the fact that Anne Robinson, 67, was brought in to co-host the consumer programme Watchdog, while the likes of Baroness Williams, 81, and Germaine Greer, 72, regularly appear on BBC’s Question Time.
This is encouraging, of course, but it seems the perception we have of older people remains a largely negative one. According to the European Social Survey, published last year, Britain has one of the worst records in Europe on age discrimination, with nearly two out of five people claiming to have been shown a lack of respect because of how old they are.
The research showed that while 64 per cent of people questioned in the UK believe ageism is a serious issue, older people tend to be pitied rather than envied. What was particularly revealing was our perception of when old age starts, with Britons saying it began at 59 compared to Greece where people said 68.
Dr Dianne Bown-Wilson, age management specialist at employment consultancy In My Prime, says age discrimination is not a simple issue. “There are overlapping age and gender issues that are still rife in the workplace and even though ageism is illegal, entrenched in most people is an informal feeling that older people don’t have the same capabilities of their younger peers.”
But she points out there is no shortage of glamorous older women around, such as Helen Mirren and Joanna Lumley.
“Older women are now being accepted as role models, which is heartening. It’s no longer the case that once women reach 50 they’re supposed to put on comfy slacks and carpet slippers and retire as a non-entity.
“For many women, some of the happiest and most fruitful years of their working lives are in later life and they much prefer being older than having to deal with the challenges when they were younger,” she says.
But she believes that attitudes are only slowly changing. “People in their 50s and 60s aren’t old and we are starting to realise that old age doesn’t start until later. At some point we will stop asking questions about people’s age but at the moment we’re still struggling with that.”
chris.bond@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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jccampb
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:03 PMWe should remember that the "executive" at BBC who swung axe on Summer Wine? Was a woman as well (who then left "Mother" for another position once she'd done the deed. jccampb
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