ETHICAL ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT

Gender Discrimination
(Ms. Samira Ahmed VS BBC)

Submitted To: Dr. Srinivas Ainavolu

Submitted On: October 06, 2020

Submitted By: Shubhang Arora

Roll No.: D039

SAP ID: 80511020608

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Case Facts

Ms. Samira Ahmed, the presenter for the show ‘News-Watch’ at BBC brought an
equal pay claim before the Tribunal against the organisation. According to Ms.
Ahmed, her work at News-watch was equal to the amount and quality of work
done by Mr. Jeremy Vine as a presenter of ‘Point of View’, another show
broadcasted on BBC. She argued that while BBC paid her £440 per programme,
whereas Mr Vine was paid £3,000. Ms Ahmed also claimed that her terms of
contract were less favourable than those of Mr. Vine’s contract and so should be
modified with a considerable pay hike.1

Before bringing this up with the Tribunal, Ms. Ahmed did initiate a conversation
within the organisation but no concrete steps were taken by BBC to cater to this
issue of unequal pay. It was then that the presenter of News-watch was forced to
take the issue up with the Tribunal.

After this issue was raised, the Tribunal asked BBC to submit the reason for the
unequal pay. BBC’s defence was based on the following factors:

1. There was a big difference between the profile of News-watch and Point of
View.
2. The audience of BBC resonated more with Mr. Vine as opposed to Ms.
Ahmed, making Mr. Vine way more popular that Ms. Ahmed.
3. The market rate at which both the presenters were hired were different.
4. Offers received by Mr. Vine by competitors.
5. The difference in the type of contract both were engaged with.

In order, to sway the decision of the Tribunal in their favour, BBC had to prove
that any one of the factors relied upon did not treat Ms. Samira Ahmed unfairly
because of her gender.

Over the course of time, the Tribunal came to a conclusion the both the show,
News-Watch and Point of View fall in the same factual genre because both of
them were 15 mins long show which aired the perspective of viewers with a
similar pre requisite of inputs from the presenter, namely reading a pre
documented script from BBC. This shifted the burden to BBC as the difference
in the pay was very striking. Mr. Vine was paid 6 times the amount Ms. Ahmed
was making per episode.

To counter the point of market rate being paid to both, Ms. Ahmed and Mr. Vine,
the Tribunal, after careful scrutiny of the evidence came to a conclusion that Mr.

1
https://pjhlaw.co.uk/2020/01/16/samira-ahmed-v-the-bbc/

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Vine was actually being paid way more than the market price, given his
experience, while Ms. Ahmed was paid equal to what a completely inexperienced
presenter would have made working with BBC.

The BBC also argued that Points of View needed a higher profile presenter and
Jeremy Vine with his “cheeky chap” persona, and “glint in his eye,” fitted the
bill. The Employment Tribunal disagreed since they were of the notion that any
kind of humour and cheekiness comes from the script presented and not the
presenter.2

The employment Tribunal also noted that there should have been sex equality
clause n Ms. Samira Ahmed’s contract entitling equality in terms of pay with
Jeremy Vine’s contract between 2012 and 2018, some 6 years.

After taking all the factors into consideration, the Tribunal unanimously came to
a conclusion the work done by Mr. Jeremy Vine and Ms. Samira Ahmed was
equal in nature. BBC also were not able to showcase suitable evidence to support
their defence they presented and were therefore unable to rebut the presumption
and justify that the pay disparity was not on grounds of gender.3

The Tribunal ruled the case in the favour of Ms. Samira Ahmed which made BBC
liable to make a payment of 700,000 pounds to the presenter as compensation.
BBC also did not appeal against the case by Samira Ahmed, giving hope to other
women looking to seek pay back from the national level broadcaster.

The Core Issue

In this case, Ms. Ahmed was subjected to gender discrimination by paying her
less than her male counterpart. The overarching issue we face in this case pertains
to gender pay gap which unfortunately a very common phenomenon in today’s
world. Gender pay gap speaks loudly about the embedded discrimination,
stereotype and loss of opportunities for women to succeed in their career.

The difference in remuneration received by males and females is stemmed from

multiple social, cultural and economic factors. It primarily stems for the notion
that men are more capable of doing a full time work and should be compensated
accordingly, while undervaluing the contribution of a woman.

2
https://pjhlaw.co.uk/2020/01/16/samira-ahmed-v-the-bbc/
3
https://www.bindmans.com/insight/blog/samira-ahmed-v-
bbc#:~:text=Judgment,level%20at%20which%20it%20was.

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Over the period of time, as the gender discourse changes, the activism against this
core issue has risen, helping restore the gender balance in men dominated
industry. Organisations are moving towards an equal pay structure but that can
also be stemmed from selfish motives. Globally, organisations are well aware of
the fact that displaying disparity in remuneration between gender can have a
negative impact on the image and goodwill of the organisation. Failure to give
fair and equal wages can come off as a regressive mindset and can even have
further negative ramifications for recruiting additional talent from diverse
backgrounds.

Critical Analysis

Upon critically analysing the case and assuming the role of the broadcasting
network, BBC, I believe there would be 2 very unique situation in in front of me.
This case could have been solved at an internal level but was escalated by Ms.
Samira Ahmed to the Tribunal. This could be because either BBC did not cater
to this issue in a satisfactory way internally or because Ms. Ahmed feels it is her
moral obligation to bring this case in front of the world to set precedent. I am
going to try and analyse both the situations moving forward.

In situation 1, assuming the role of BBC network, my first instinct would be to

make sure that this issue is rightfully resolved within the organization before it
goes out to the public. In this situation, as BBC, I would have given a lot more
importance to this issue when Ms. Ahmed decided to walk in with her grievance.

As BBC, I believe the most suitable way forward would be to discuss the issue
with Ms. Ahmed and hold an internal enquiry about the same. I would further
have reworked the firms pay structure policies to make it more equitable and
transparent. The gender equality guidelines would be revisited and reworked to
get them in line with the current gender discourse. Additionally, as BBC, I would
have sat down with Ms. Ahmed to discuss her pay structure and negotiated to
come to a mutual consensus about the additional pay that Ms. Ahmed deserves
and the rightful amount she deserves for missing out on equitable pay during her
tenure at BBC. To cover all bases, a non-disclosure agreement would have been
laid down to make sure that the terms of the negotiation remains between the
concerning parties and that Ms. Ahmed does not exploit her position moving
forward. This I believe would be the right step to take according to the theory of
utilitarianism.4

4
https://iep.utm.edu/util-a-
r/#:~:text=Utilitarianism%20is%20one%20of%20the%20best%20known%20and%20most%20influential%20mo
ral%20theories.&text=Utilitarians%20believe%20that%20the%20purpose,such%20as%20pain%20and%20unha
ppiness).

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According to the theory of utilitarianism, the outcome/consequences for the basis
of what is right or wrong. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the
one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number.5

Considering the theory of Utilitarianism, I believe, that holding a negotiation to

cater to the wants of Ms. Ahmed and thereby preserving the goodwill of the
organization is in the best interest of all the stakeholder. This way, Ms. Ahmed
will be happy with her pay scale, the organization would be happy to preserve its
goodwill and other stakeholders in the organization like employees would be
happy with the change in pay structure policy to make it more equitable and
transparent.

While this would be the ideal way around this case, Ms. Ahmed can refuse to
negotiate and bring this issue forward with the Tribunal. This situation might
arise if Ms. Ahmed feels that she needs to set a precedent and stand up for all the
women who are subjected to gender discrimination via unequal pay. In this
situation, while I would be expected to defend the stance of BBC before the
Tribunal, I believe it is our virtue to stand against discrimination of any kind.

Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It

may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral
character, in contrast to the approach that emphasizes duties or rules (deontology)
or that emphasizes the consequences of actions (consequentialism).6

In line with the idea of virtue ethics and assuming the role of BBC, I would be
ready to take ownership of the company’s action in terms of the gender pay gap
and would be ready to revamp the policies to make sure any kind of
discrimination is not tolerated in the firm. I understand this decision might hurt
the firm’s goodwill and would be going against the Utilitarian approach, but I
believe that the virtues of a good businessperson are the same as those of a good
person.

Regardless of whether the ethics if business is different from that of everyday

life, we need to show that virtue ethics is relevant to businesses by determining
the character trait that make for a good business person. In this case that character
trait is Empathy. Empathy is the basis of every necessary change. Putting myself
in Ms. Samira’s shoe would inform me of the years of discrimination faced by
her and all the women across the globe and would empower me to take the
decision of owning up to my mistake to rectify it.

5
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism
6
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/

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I believe, ethical theories can play a vital role in business decision making. With
the changing discourse, many consumers select products based on ethical
considerations. Buyers trust that the companies with which they conduct business
are responsible and moral. Over the years, the world has seen some considerable
progress in the reduction of gender discrimination but we are still long way from
achieving gender equality.

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Plagiarism Report