Progress report for
50:50 The Equality Project
Achievement at a glance
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 several hundred BBC teams and 145 partner organisations in 30 countries – all working towards one goal: equal representation of women and men in content.
In 2021, for the first time, the BBC’s progress was published alongside our 50:50 partner organisations. In 2022, the partner organisations shows how almost three-quarters have made progress.
In March 2022, teams were challenged to see how many could reach 50% women contributors. At the BBC, 61% of datasets featured 50% women contributors in March, compared to 35% when they first started. Forty percent also proved consistency.
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.
More than 250 teams across the BBC have committed to using 50:50 monitoring to increase their representation of ethnic minority and disabled contributors. Half of those who took part in the March 2022 challenge reached their ethnicity targets, and over a fifth met their disability goals.
This progress 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.
Next Steps
Nina GoswamiBeneficiaries
The audiences we serve.