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Top BBC women write letter demanding Tony Hall closes gender pay gap now

Top female personalities at the BBC have written an open letter to director general Tony Hall calling on him to act immediately to tackle the gender pay divide.

High-profile names including Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and Angela Rippon are among more than 40 women urging him to "correct this disparity" over gender pay, which they say has been known to exist within the corporation "for years".

The One Show host Alex Jones, Antiques Roadshow's Fiona Bruce and Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis are also supporting calls to sort out pay inequality "now", rather than by Lord Hall's self-imposed 2020 timescale.

:: The BBC gender pay gap is bad - but its class gap is worse

The letter follows the release of documents setting out pay for staff earning more than £150,000, which showed a sizeable gap in the earnings of the corporation's well-known male and female presenters and actors.

Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans topped the list on more than £2m, while the highest earning woman was Strictly's Claudia Winkleman on between £450,000-£499,999.

The letter states female personalities are "prepared to meet" Mr Hall "so that future generations of women do not face this kind of discrimination".

It reads: "The pay details released in the annual report showed what many of us have suspected for many years... that women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work.

"Compared to many women and men, we are very well compensated and fortunate.

"However, this is an age of equality and the BBC is an organisation that prides itself on its values.

"You have said that you will 'sort' the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years.

"We all want to go on the record to call upon you to act now."

The letter adds: "Beyond the list, there are so many other areas including production, engineering and support services, and global, regional and local media where a pay gap has languished for too long.

"This is an opportunity for those of us with strong and loud voices to use them on behalf of all, and for an organisation that had to be pushed into transparency to do the right thing."

The full list of signatories is:

Aasmah Mir

Katya Adler

Anita Anand

Wendy Austin

Samira Ahmed

Clare Balding

Emma Barnett

Zeinab Badawi

Sue Barker

Rachel Burden

Annabel Croft

Martine Croxall

Victoria Derbyshire

Lyse Doucet

Jane Garvey

Joanna Gosling

Fi Glover

Carrie Gracie

Orla Guerin

Karin Giannone

Mishal Husain

Lucy Hockings

Geeta Guru-Murthy

Kirsty Lang

Gabby Logan

Martha Kearney

Carolyn Quinn

Kasia Madera

Katty Kay

Emily Maitlis

Louise Minchin

Sarah Montague

Jenni Murray

Annita McVeigh

Elaine Paige

Sally Nugent

Angela Rippon

Ritula Shah

Sarah Smith

Kate Silverton

Charlotte Smith

Kirsty Wark

Fiona Bruce

Alex Jones