ABC female talent take back seat to ring-ins

THE ABC has enforced a man-ban to showcase women presenters, but doesn’t think its own female staff are talented enough to fill in for some blokes.

The ABC has announced an all-female line-up for International Women’s Day, including women who aren’t employed by the ABC. Picture: Supplied

THE ABC’s controversial man-ban, that will mean all TV and radio programs will be presented by women for a 24-hour period, has been billed by the broadcaster as an opportunity to “celebrate the achievements” of its female talent.

But it seems the broadcaster has had to search outside its ranks to find female broadcasters worthy of filling in for regular male presenters for the day and in some cases giving on-air opportunities to ring-ins over ABC employees.

In an official statement outlining its plans to “showcase the extraordinary breadth of the ABC’s female broadcasters and creative talent”, the ABC names fill-in hosts and presenters who don’t even work there.

Presenting special content that “explores the need for change and gender equality”, independent broadcaster Jane Caro will take on hosting duties in the place of Richard Fidler to present the daily Conversations program on local radio.

Apparently no ABC staffer could be found to fill in for Richard Fidler.

The veteran presenter is an occasional fill-in host on the ABC’s Sydney radio station and has appeared on a number of the network’s TV programs as a commentator, but the columnist and author is not employed by the ABC. When asked for confirmation on this, her agent Peter Wall said Ms Caro was “completely independent” and had no employment commitments with the broadcaster.

Girl Geek Academy CEO Sarah Moran, actor and comedian Mary Coustas, and veteran journalist Ita Buttrose were also named among non-ABC female staff whose talents would be showcased by the broadcaster on International Women’s Day tomorrow.

‘She doesn’t even go here’.

The initiative has been widely dismissed as an ABC publicity stunt and criticised as “tokenistic” by a host of female broadcasters.

There have also been questions raised around the merits of giving blokes a day off to celebrate International Women’s Day, as well as what male broadcasters like Richard Glover, Mark Colvin, and Michael Rowland will be tasked with while they’re booted from the airwaves.

Some of the choices included in the ladies-only line-up have attracted criticism, including controversial Muslim commentator Yassmin Abdel-Magied, and Dr Susan Carland, academic and wife of The Project host Waleed Aly, touted by the ABC as “an important voice in the Australian cultural landscape” for her “expertise in gender, sociology and the modern Muslim experience”.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied stars in ABC’s International Women's Day promo. Picture: ABC

The ABC refused to answer specific questions on these points when asked by news.com.au.

A spokeswoman also declined to comment on the move to overlook ABC employees in favour of external talent on freelance rates.

A generic statement sent to news.com.au said the initiative was “a valuable opportunity to celebrate their (female ABC employees’) achievements publicly, and for the ABC to use its position as a public broadcaster to continue the conversation about gender issues and to raise awareness about the gender imbalance”.

Originally published as ABC female talent take back seat to ring-ins