Women working for the BBC have complained they are paid less than men in equivalent jobs and accused managers of misleading them about their pay to hide widespread gender discrimination at Britain's public broadcaster.
The BBC, however, published a review of the pay of some 800 on-air staff, produced by PwC, which found no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making at the broadcaster, a cherished institution funded by a licence fee levied on TV viewers.
The BBC has been struggling to quell anger among female employees since it had to name its best-paid on-air staff last July and disclose their pay bands, revealing that two-thirds of them were men of whom some were paid far more than female peers.
Female staff seeking redress have become bogged down in opaque internal processes, according to BBC Women, a group of 170 staff.
"Women have experienced veiled threats made against them when they raised the subject of equal pay," the group wrote to parliament's media committee.
The BBC admits to a gender pay gap of nine per cent, meaning more men are in better paid jobs, but says this is narrower than the British average of 18 per cent. The corporation does not admit to paying women less than men for equal work.
BBC Women provided 14 examples of women who described frustrating battles with managers over pay discrimination.
"I have co-presented with a male colleague for many years ... I estimate he's paid around double what I earn for doing the same job," said one of the unnamed women in a typical submission. "I raised the equal pay issue many times over the years, but nothing was done."
