Executive Summary 2021

50:50 The Equality Project supports the BBC and other organisations to create content that better reflects the world around us.

The Project began as a grassroots initiative in the BBC’s London newsroom in 2017. It now involves 670 BBC teams and more than 100 partner organisations in 26 countries – all working towards one goal: equal representation of women and men in content.

This report shows, for the first time, the BBC’s progress alongside our 50:50 partner organisations.

In March, teams were challenged to see how many could reach 50% women contributors. Within the BBC, the challenge included how many could consistently meet 50:50 from October 2020 to March 2021.

In a year that saw the coronavirus pandemic have a devastating impact on lives and industries globally, the data suggested that achieving gender balance remained a priority for the global 50:50 network.

At the BBC, 70% of datasets featured 50% women contributors in March, compared to 36% when they first started. Forty percent also proved consistency.

Across the global 50:50 network, 41 organisations took part in the challenge. Half of the datasets submitted featured at least 50% women. All are committed to continue improving women’s representation in their output.

In October 2020, the BBC announced 50:50 monitoring was expanding to include representation of ethnicity and disability. This supports the Corporation’s aim to reach 50% women, 20% black, Asian and minority ethnic, and 12% disabled representation on-screen, on-air and in lead roles across all genres.

Over 220 teams across the BBC have now committed to using 50:50 monitoring to increase their representation of ethnic minority and disabled contributors.

This report demonstrates a worldwide commitment to improving representation in content. It evidences how 50:50 is contributing to sustained culture change across the creative industries and beyond.