The BBC's top earning presenters list includes women for the first time

But there's still a long way to go.

After considerable pressure from the Government to increase the transparency on pay, the BBC has started releasing its annual reports revealing how much its stars are actually paid.

With the incomes coming out of the licence fees paid by the public, the Government argued in 2017 that the people have the right to know how much the corporation is paying its stars, forcing the BBC to release a list of the presenters, actors and entertainers who earn more than £150,000 a year.

The list of talent originally released included 96 people, with the big controversy being the gender pay gap revelation. The figures showed that men made up two thirds of the highest paid talent.

This week, as part of the BBC’s Annual Report, the most recent highest earning BBC presenters were revealed, and despite last year’s top 12 being all male, this year saw three women in the top 12 earners.

Presenters Claudia Winkleman, Zoe Ball and Vanessa Feltz have moved up the list.

Gary Lineker is still in first place with £1.75 million, followed by Chris Evans (£1.25 million), Graham Norton (£610,000), Huw Edwards (£490,000), Steve Wright (£465,000), Alan Shearer (£440,000) and Andrew Marr (£390,000).

Eighth on the list was Claudia Winkleman and Zoe Ball, as women enter the list of top paid BBC presenters for the first time, at £370,000 each.

Further down the list, tied with Jason Mohammad was Vanessa Feltz at £355,000.

The addition of women to the list of top-paid BBC presenters is a step forward, but there is still a long way to go in terms of wage disparity.

‘There has been some progress in the last two years, but many women at all levels of the BBC are locked into slow, inefficient and demoralising internal processes,’ reportedly announced BBC Women in a statement. ‘New equal pay cases are still emerging and staff are yet to have confidence that pay inequality is in the past.’

We can do better.