Former BBC newsreader says more needs to be done to get women on TV and in the media

Alice Arnold is calling for 'equal representation of women'

Former BBC Radio Four newsreader Alice Arnold is calling for a better effort to get more women on TV and in the media.

In a BBC video she calls for 'equal representation of women' saying she didn't 'want to see a women on the panel, I want to see two women on every panel. Equal representation, which means at least 50 per cent.'

Last month the BBC ran a women experts training day. Although there was only space for 30 attendees, 2,000 women applied.

'There were space scientists, architectural historians, brilliant women' Arnold said, adding the the belief women experts didn't exist was 'blown out of the water'.

Last year research was done into a lack of representation of female experts in the media, led by a leading academic from City University's Department of Journalism.

The department's deputy head, broadcaster Lis Howell, led a campaign, 'the Expert Women' campaign, to encourage broadcast outlets to get more female experts on TV and radio with the aim of 30 per cent female representation.

She started a petition which garnered over 3,000 signatures and the campaign was backed by the BBC who began the training days.

At the time Howell said: 'We hope that broadcasters will obviously recognise that the underrepresentation of women in interviews is a problem, but we think they need a specific target in order to ensure that things change.

'We are therefore encouraging people to sign a separate petition that asks broadcasters to aim for a 30% target. This is not a quota but a minimum target that we think is realistic.'

In the BBC video Arnold said a 'little bit' has been done, but it was not enough.

She added: 'It's not that women don't know how to play the game - they just haven't been invited'

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