25-05-2025
BBC Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani accused of being 'biased and bigoted' by gender rights campaigner
BBC Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani has been accused of being 'biased and bigoted' by a gender rights campaigner.
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters - a women's rights group - said her views were 'misrepresented' on the show by Rani.
She made a formal complaint to the BBC, claiming the presenter should never have been allowed to present interviews with individuals on both sides of the transgender debate, because she had in the past shown 'extreme and unacceptable bias' on the issue, The Telegraph first reported.
Woman's Hour had discussed the debate with figures on both sides after April's Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women.
The ruling also decided the word 'sex' in the Equality Act refers to biological sex and not gender identity, sparking mass debate across the world.
Ms Joyce featured on Woman's Hour last week, before chief executive of Amnesty International UK, Sacha Deshmukh, appeared on the show two days later.
In her complaint, Ms Joyce condemned the 'choice to use a demonstrably biased and bigoted presenter, Anita Rani, for that interview, thereby giving her and the interviewee the chance to misrepresent me'.
She added that the presenter had 'previously publicly demonstrated bias and prejudice towards the gender-critical viewpoint'.
'In particular, she shouldn't have been allowed to interview Sacha Deshmukh because it was obvious she would give him an easy ride for ideological reasons,' she said.
Gender rights campaigner Ms Joyce quoted a tweet Ms Rani had penned four years ago in the wake of criticism of Woman's Hour for featuring Paris Lees, a trans author, to discuss the book What It Feels Like For A Girl.
Ms Rani posted: 'I'm disgusted by the levels of transphobia on here. Woman's Hour is a space to discuss everything about LGBTQ+ issues.
'Listening to people's stories helps us understand something and hopefully empathise. Ditch the hate.'
In response, Ms Joyce claimed the tweet exposed Ms Rani's 'extreme and unacceptable bias'.
Ms Joyce claimed the presenter misrepresented her point of view in a question to Mr Deshmuck, enabling him to make out she did not understand the Supreme Court ruling.
'Anita asked Sacha misleading questions which muddled up my explanation of the judgment,' she wrote.
A spokesman for the BBC said: 'The BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit will respond to this complaint directly, in accordance with our usual complaints procedure. Woman's Hour has given an on air clarification, stating that when Helen Joyce from the campaign group Sex Matters was quoted in the interview with Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, her comment referred to the Equality Act and not to the issue of sex and gender in wider society or any other legislation.
'Both interviews were part of a series broadcast by Woman's Hour over the past two weeks, which reflect a wide range of perspectives on the Supreme Court ruling.'
