Gabby Logan on TV sexism: On Sky women wear leotards...while the men get away with a suit
Sports presenter slams her old employers Sky for not treating women the same way as men - while attacking an unnamed BBC executive for saying she was TOO glamorous
Sports presenter Gabby Logan has slammed her old employer Sky Sports for failing to take women as seriously as their male counterparts.
Speaking to this week’s Radio Times Logan said that the broadcaster – whose roster of female presenters include Charlotte Jackson and Kirsty Gallacher – treat women differently from men.
“The girls are basically wearing a leotard while the bloke’s in a suit and a tie,” she said.
“It’s fine if they’re given a career path, but there have never been any big breakthrough women on Sky. We all have to go to other places.”
She reveals that at Sky she was told by a boss that if she wasn’t presenting football by the time she was 27, she never would be.
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Jackson, a former colleague of Logan, was the subject of sexist comments from former Sky pundit Andy Gray, the release of which were deemed instrumental in his departure from the broadcaster.
However Logan, who is married to former Scotland rugby union player Kenny Logan, also takes aim at the BBC where she says a boss once told her she was too glamorous.
She reveals: “A boss at the BBC once told me that I was too glamorous and pointed to my high-heeled boots. I said: ‘I’ve just come from a radio show, it’s what I wear’.”
“’He said: ‘You don’t wear them when you do the dishes, do you?’” Does he want me to look like I’m doing the dishes? I’m not here to look like a housewife. If I’m at home in my pyjamas I want to see something a bit more aspirational on TV. It’s right that people on primetime look after their appearance.”
Last year during London 2012 Logan was the face of the BBC’s Olympics Tonight and presented a daily roundup of Team GB’s triumphs.
In January she presented ITV celebrity diving contest Splash! And will be returning to Saturday primetime as the host of BBC1’s patriotic panel show I Love My Country.
Logan was born in Leeds and was an international gymnast representing Wales until her late teens. Her father, Terry Yorath, played for and managed the Welsh football team.
A Sky spokesman said: “While we respect Gabby’s opinion and her work, we’re surprised by the comments as there are many talented women who have developed successful presenting or reporting careers at Sky Sports.
"They include trained journalists, passionate and knowledgeable about sport, who work on our most high profile sports including football, golf, cricket and Formula 1. And, there are a huge number of female colleagues working behind the scenes, including 30% of the production team at Sky Sports News. It would be disrespectful to those women if we didn’t challenge the idea that they are there for any reason other than merit.”
