When we first announced that we were hosting a free training day for female experts who wanted to be presenters or contributors, we had no idea what a phenomenal response we’d get.
We’d heard plenty from programme makers about women’s reluctance to appear on air. Often, we were told, they would turn the offer down or recommend a male colleague instead when contacted by programmes. It’s been cited as one reason why there is a lack of on-screen female representation on factual programmes from across the industry.
Would this supposed reluctance also apply to the prospect of a free day of training and discussion with some of the best in the broadcasting industry at the BBC Academy?
Of course, the answer was no. There was a huge demand, with more than 2,000 women applying for just 30 places. It seems that this kind of event is just what many female experts are looking for: a chance to gain confidence and skills, and to learn how the media works before putting themselves forward to appear in it.
It was a daunting process to whittle the applicants down to the final few. There was a temptation to meet the demand by increasing the numbers on the event, but we resisted this. To do so would remove the element of hands-on, one-to-one training and feedback that we wanted to deliver.
The day itself was incredibly well received. All 30 women made it to the event despite heavy snow and long journeys from outside London, which was a testament to their eagerness to take part. But it was also obvious that there were plenty more expert women out there who could benefit from the training – and plenty of editors who would like to have them on their programmes.
So I’m really pleased that the BBC Academy will be producing several more Expert Women’s Days, in order to train up a further 100 female specialists.
These events will take place around the country to ensure we give the very best experts the chance to shine, and take in Salford, London, Cardiff and Glasgow - which will also include specialist women from Northern Ireland.
We originally focused on finding women in editorial areas such as science, history and engineering where we were told by programme makers that there was an acute need for more female experts. These new events will seek experts in these fields, but also broaden the search to take in other areas that have a lack of visible female representation in the media, like religion and the arts.
I hope they will be as much of a success as the first Expert Women Day in January. Produced by the BBC Academy, jointly initiated with Broadcast Magazine and sponsored by Creative Skillset, it gave 30 fantastic women experience of everything from radio panel shows to live television interviews. The aim was to demystify the media, and provide the chance for some valuable networking.
It proved very useful. But don’t just take my word for it – two of our expert women, Emily Sidonie Grossman and Jassel Majevadia have blogged for the BBC Academy website about their experiences.
What’s more, in the three short weeks since the event several of our experts have already appeared as contributors or been commissioned by radio and TV programmes. This includes alcohol and addiction expert Sally Marlow, who has gone from ‘trainee’ to Today Programme reporter in just six weeks. She was recently commissioned by the programme to produce a report on alcohol addiction, which will be broadcast before the end of February.
The list continues: Tina Miller, a sociologist, has appeared on Woman’s Hour; Charlotte Connelly, a curator at the Science Museum, contributed to The Last Word; Alison Baily, a political analyst, appeared on BBC Radio Oxford and Katherine Woolf, a lecturer in medical Education, appeared on BBC World News show GMT.
I’m sure this is just the beginning. The database of the first 30 women and a further 200, who made it to the second round of recruitment, has been circulated widely across the industry. Many of their film clips will also be uploaded to YouTube for viewing by an even wider audience.
I can’t wait to meet our next groups of expert women from around the UK. If they’re anything like the first bunch, I expect you’ll be hearing from them on a radio or TV near you very soon.
Anne Morrison is Director of the BBC Academy.
Information on how to apply to future Expert Women events will be published on the BBC Academy website in the next few weeks. Follow @thebbcacademy for updates.
There is more information about the BBC Academy announcement on the Media Centre website.
