I’m now going to write something I never imagined I’d ever think, let alone express in public: too many women are being hired to present iconic sports programmes on the BBC. Two women and only one man are rumoured to be filling the shoes of departing Gary Lineker on Match Of The Day, and on Tuesday a trio of women presented BBC Sports Personality Of The Year (Keely Hodgkinson being the fourth woman in a row to win).
![[Kelly Cates - the daughter of Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish - and Gabby Logan will be joined by Mark Chapman as the new hosts of Match Of The Day in place of Gary Lineker]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/02/93285569-14206805-Kelly_Cates_the_daughter_of_Liverpool_legend_Sir_Kenny_Dalglish_-a-10_1734574150999.jpg)
My reaction surprised me. After all, I began my BBC broadcasting career as far back as 1973 and spent most of it campaigning for women’s voices to be heard. It was virtually impossible to imagine a woman reading the BBC news until Angela Rippon managed to break through that barrier in 1975.
![[Radio 2 DJ Fearne Cotton announced she had split up with her husband of ten years, Jesse Wood, days after revealing she had discoverd two tumours on her jawline]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/02/93285553-14206805-Radio_2_DJ_Fearne_Cotton_announced_she_had_split_up_with_her_hus-a-11_1734574151006.jpg)
But at that point it was as if BBC management patted itself on the back thinking: ‘There, we’ve done it. Now that’s enough. One woman up front will do,’ because it was several years before the next breakthrough. My first encounter with the sexism in the industry came in 1971 when I was still at university and desperate to join the BBC. I had the voice. I was a good writer and knew how to perform. Most importantly, I was obsessed by the news, politics and had a nose for a good story.
![[Dianne Buswell and Chris McCausland lifted this year's Strictly Come Dancing glitterball]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/02/93285763-14206805-Dianne_Buswell_and_Chris_McCausland_lifted_this_year_s_Strictly_-a-12_1734574151006.jpg)
The careers adviser told me not to bother because they’d only take two or three trainees, they’d be male and have first-class degrees from Oxford or Cambridge. A girl from Hull University had no chance, no matter how good my degree. Gabby Logan, Alex Scott and Clare Balding presented this week's Sports Personality of the Year, which was won by athlete Keely Hodgkinson, the fourth woman in a row to lift the award.
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