Casualty star Tom Chambers has sparked controversy after saying men should be paid more because 'they need to support their wives and children.'
His comments were in response to the BBC's salary report published last Wednesday, in which the names of 96 stars who earn over £150,000 became of public interest. The report revealed that two thirds of the list were male, exposing a stark gender pay gap.
The mammoth disparity between what the BBC pays its female and male stars brought the gender pay gap to the forefront of the agenda once again, with the female stars such as Clare Balding, Fiona Bruce and Sue Baker urging Tony Hall to ‘act now’ and ‘correct this disparity’.
However, for Tom Chambers – star of Casualty and winner of Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 - the notion that men should be paid more than women is completely justifiable.
Speaking to The Sun, Chambers defended his co-star Derek Thompson being named the BBC's best paid actor, allegedly earning between £350,000 and £399,999. He said, ‘Many men’s salaries aren’t just for them, it’s for their wife and children, too.
‘My wife works really hard as a stay-at-home mum, but I’m the only one bringing in a salary for our family.'
This is so wrong. Men are not and should not be deemed as the definitive breadwinners. Have women not got families to support, too? Women don’t need or expect men to pay for them, and in turn men shouldn’t be solely responsible for providing for their wives and children. As many quickly pointed out, 'this isn’t the 1950s.'
He went on to say: ‘It’s like being a footballer - you earn your credits. I’ve just done six months on Casualty, but Derek has done 31 years of service.
‘That means arriving in the dark at 6am and leaving when it’s dark at 9pm.
‘It’s demanding stuff.’
Again, by suggesting that the hard work is only carried out by men undermines every woman, everywhere, especially their female counterparts who obviously do the same amount of hours and, well, the same job. We’ve been through this before.
He then went on to defend Chris Evans, who was positioned at the top of BBC’s highest earning list with a salary of £2.2 million, while the highest earning female star – Claudia Winkleman – earns four times less than him at £450,000 to £500,000.
‘Likewise, Chris Evans has been a household name for 20 years,’ he continued. ‘His Radio 2 figures are outstanding.’
It’s worrying enough as it is that there is such a large disparity between wages, let alone that people will back the corner of why men should be paid more. Chambers’ insulting comments are a fine example of everyday sexism - the seemingly micro comments that reveal wildly destructive (and outdated) ideals about men and women in society, and ones that plague discourse on a daily basis.
Chambers may not have spoken these words with malice, but isn’t that even more worrying? Hopefully the gender pay gap will be rebalanced, but it isn’t just a case of changing a few numbers - society has a lot more to do to readdress social attitudes towards women, and it starts with quashing misguided comments like these.
Update
Tom Chambers has released a statement aplogising for his comments:
"I am completely mortified by the stories that have run today and didn’t mean to offend anyone by my comments which have been taken out of context from a conversation I had at a book launch. I in no waya dvocate the gender pay gap and I was explaining that I thought it had stemmed from that past, and shouldn’t be how things are now. I truly believe that change needs to happen."
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