Equal

Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award 2019

Equal is BBC journalist Carrie Gracie's urgent call to arms - a powerful story about how women can fight for equal pay, and how men and employers can help them.

Gracie joined a group of high-profile BBC women who challenged the national broadcaster over equal pay after enforced disclosures revealed huge gaps between top men and women. Gracie had insisted on equal pay at the time of her China posting, and after trying with other BBC women to put things right through negotiation, she eventually resigned her post complaining publicly of a 'secretive and illegal' pay culture. Her protest triggered a parliamentary inquiry into BBC pay, and after a protracted internal complaints process, she won an apology from the BBC and a settlement which she donated to the Fawcett Society.

In Equal Gracie will tell her own story, explore why it is often so hard for women to assert their value in the workplace and give practical guidance on what women, men and employers can do to achieve equality for this and future generations of women.

About the Author

Carrie Gracie grew up in north east Scotland and set up a restaurant before completing a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford. In a BBC career spanning more than three decades, she has served as China correspondent and Beijing bureau chief, presenter on the BBC News Channel and host of the weekly BBC World Service programme The Interview. She has made many documentaries for TV and radio, winning prizes including a Peabody and an Emmy, and commentating at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In January 2018, Gracie left her post as the BBC's China editor in protest at unequal pay, publishing an open letter to BBC audiences and giving evidence before a parliamentary committee. Six months later, she won an apology from the BBC. She donated all her back pay to the gender equality charity, the Fawcett Society, to help low-paid women facing pay discrimination. She continues to serve as a BBC News presenter, and as a member of the 'BBC Women' group, she campaigns for a more equal, fair and transparent pay structure at the national broadcaster.