The balance between male and female presenters sparks perennial debate in radio circles here in Australia as well as other mature media markets around the world.

In the past year the BBC has made some significant inroads in addressing the issue. In August last year, BBC director general Tony Hall pledged to have 50% of radio breakfast shows featuring a woman presenter by the end of 2014.

So far he’s ahead of schedule, having upped the number of women on breakfast from just eight to 18 – that’s 18 women on the 41 BBC breakfast shows across England.

While 13 of the shows have a female co-presenting with a male, the other five of the shows are presented solo by females.

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