The Director- General’s office has responded to me and said NO to accepting our petition being delivered in person in London NO to speaking and discussing a date for a meeting NO to a meeting of any description at all to communicate your comments NO to viewer input on Equal Pay as, in a paper, they think we are not ‘directly affected’. NO to any practical way of speaking about the hundreds of comments you have already submitted in addition to your signatures. They have suggested that we can start again by making individual complaints. This would be a long and tortuous process fraught with more hurdles and telephone queues. Hence meantime, please consider Writing to your MP or turning up at the Women’s March on 10 June in London ( or Belfast Edinburgh or Cardiff !!) “BBC SAY NO TO EQUAL PAY conversations with audiences” There are moving stories of inequality in some of your hundreds of comments for which I thank you. I would like to think that in an increasingly transparent world BBC management would realise that good leadership can only be based upon ethics and values not top down policies of silence or secrecy that will eventually blow away in the wind. Those are the old policies that got them into this situation. Here are just a few of your thoughtful and critical comments • All of these little kingdoms inside the BBC with petty male monarchs lording it over everyone is the medieval feudal system. That went out a long time ago. • I was under the impression that equal pay for work of equal value was the law. How come the BBC is apparently immune from this? • Equal pay has been around for a very long time and it is about time the BBC played fair! • As a BBC employee years ago I also was discriminated against on pay as a woman, my complaint was ignored. • The BBC is very quick and rigorous in chasing up licence fees, ensuring that all tv viewer pay equally for the corporation's service; it's double standards, BBC, if you are not just as rigorous about giving equal pay for the same service provided by different members of your own staff. Or does this mean I can pay a lesser licence fee as I am a woman? • As an ex civil servant I know that public bodies accountable to the tax payer can provide equal pay for doing the same job, and the BBC should do so also. • Unequal treatment of women is simply unacceptable - I like/trust BBC a lot less for this. • The BBC should be ashamed and immediately rectify all pay. Stop hiding behind fancy justification phrases and just sort it out. It's not rocket science. They are publicly funded so they must abide by public laws. Equal pay is the law and has been for over 50 years. I suggest taking some of the pay of the bosses to rectify the discrepancies, until they are equalised. They may have to bring in an independent assessor to make sure it is all transparent and correct. • The BBC needs to do more to show that it supports gender equality. This is the very least it could do. • This is the year of change for women. Abuse and sexual exploitation has been highlighted so much in the news. The BBC should be setting standards not dragging their feet as regards pay. What a disgrace you are. Equal pay now equates to giving women their proper place and respect in our nominally democratic society. • Transparency is a vital first step in redressing the inequalities faced by people of different genders, races etc. in employment. The BBC is a superbly valuable and vital institution in these times of fake news and propaganda. We need it also to be an example of progress and fairness, such that other business might follow. It would not just be a rightful action for it’s own staff, but a public statement about what is right and about what we, as a country, should be striving for. Lead the way please BBC! • I am disgusted that blatant sexism occurs in the BBC. I am thinking about whether as a license payer I want to support such a prejudiced organisation. • The BBC may lose some of its worldwide credibility if it didn't treat its staff equally. • It’s disgusting that we have to petition organisations such as the BBC to uphold equality laws for women. • I love the BBC and am ashamed of it. • Just beggars belief that in our democratic country the inequality of womens pay should still exist. Shame on you BBC. • I pay my fee and expect the BBC to behave and pay fairly. • The Equal Pay Act was introduced in the UK in 1970..it seems ridiculous that I am signing this 47 years later. Shame on you BBC! • As a taxpayer and licence fee payer I believe that the BBC must be accountable to the British people and become a beacon for the highest employment standards in public life. • Do the men who run the BBC still go to work on penny-farthings and frequent gentlemen's clubs...if so, it needs to stop. • Sexism is so last year And now one of your moving stories. This is not about the BBC. It is historic, yet current, as it explains how it must feel to face years of discrimination. Thank you. • I'm now 71 so times have changed. In the Civil Service I was sexually molested at age 18. I left and went to work for British Railways. Most of the girls were typists. I purposely did not learn to type, I felt I deserved better. I always had equal pay but not equal conditions. I was refused a Traffic Apprericeship ( I applied directly only giving initials and skipped putting my application via my line manager). I was sussed out at the Morning of the interview because someone recognized my surname (then XXXX !(name withheld by JB). My intention was to walk in and stand in front of the interviewers and refuse to leave. I had better qualifications and experience to any of the men. It was not physically carved in stone, NO FEMALES - it was the common psychy then. Fifty years on and things have changed some, but there are still miles to go. I'm still fighting the system and will until I die.