Thursday, April 28, 2016
BBC Makes Diversity a Priority, Pledges Half Its On-Air Roles and Workforce Will Be Female By 2020
The Mary Sue: We already know that the BBC makes awesome television like Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Orphan Black. Now, they’re giving us a reason to love them more by making the conscious decision to prioritize gender parity and racial diversity both in their content and in their workforce.
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Something about this article rubs me the wrong way. Of course it's great to see that the BBC is dedicated to increasing gender equality both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, but I'm not sure if this is the best way to approach this topic. It just seems very odd to me to put quotas on people, especially their more broken down goals of 15% of people from BAME backgrounds and 8% of people who are disabled or LGBTQ+. Maybe this is just me, but it seems a little dehumanizing to think of hiring in this way. I also find it very strange that they lumped LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities into the same group. One thing that stands out the most to me in this article is that the Guardian reported that the BBC was already struggling to meet their diversity goals, so I'm not sure if simply increasing those numbers is a good idea. Perhaps I'm just being to sensitive, but although increasing diversity is a great idea I just don't think this is the best way to go about it.
"Still, the BBC seems hopeful, and like they are truly trying to make a change, saying in a statement that their workforce will be “at least as diverse or more diverse than any in the industry” and meet “on-screen targets that cover a much wider range of diversity than any in the industry.”"
I think it's good that the BBC is striving for diversity, obviously, because diversity is good. But it's kind of not so good that the BBC has failed to meet their previous diversity goals and still is striving for, what they phrase as here, the bare minimum. BBC is also the whitest in terms of diversity in their popular television shows, as far as I can tell. If we are talking Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Orphan Black, they are white as hell. Pasty, white, incredibly tall British men who stalk around slightly shorter British men (although Orphan Black is about a woman, but still). If the BBC keeps up this commitment, I will be thrilled, because I think a lot of the stuff they produce is quality television, but I'm just not satisfied yet.
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