The number of BBC news teams with equal on-air representation of men and women has grown from last year, despite drastic changes to the broadcaster’s output during the coronavirus crisis.

Two-thirds of the 600 teams taking part in the BBC’s 50:50 challenge reached on-air gender parity in March. Just over one third (34 per cent) of the same teams had equal gender representation when they first started monitoring their data within the last two years.

In total, 68 per cent of the news and current affairs teams taking part in the challenge reached the 50:50 target in March this year, up from 62 per cent last year. Just under a third (32 per cent) of the news teams taking part this year had gender parity when they first signed up to the project.