“It’ll Be The Greatest Conversation You Ever Have”: Kate Langbroek Discusses The Gender Pay Gap

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Hughesy & Kate's Kate Langbroek sat down with the Head of the Hit Network, Gemma Fordham, in an exclusive podcast to discuss her experience as a woman in the industry.

When Kate looked back at her career in radio and comedy, she told Gemma that the majority of her work had been with men and she looks for the opportunity to balance that energy off air. 

“I always like to have women in those roles, because I find otherwise the energies are sometimes too different, they really get out of whack. I think the Ying and Yang thing does not exist in show business anyway.”

One thing that Kate feels strongly about is equal pay in the workplace, after finding out she was on a lower income than her co-host Dave Hughes at another radio network.

“Hughesy has a higher profile than I do, but when it comes to our show, we built [Hughesy & Kate] together… so the thought that we are walking into the same studio at the same time… to do the same show to the same listeners, and that he’s getting paid more than double than I am, in my thinking, is a very bad and unsustainable model going forward.”

Kate also told Gemma we have to be acknowledge our own role in it, and that we have to change our thinking when it comes to talking about money.

“As soon as I spoke up, everything changed, but the ‘speaking up’ is the hardest part you will ever do.

“If you want things to change, you have to do things yourself, and one of them is speaking about money, and it will be the greatest conversation you’ll ever have.”

Listen to the full chat with Kate Langbroek & Gemma Fordham below!

Hear the rest of our International Women’s Day podcasts here, featuring Carrie Bickmore, Ash London and the other inspiring women in the Hit Network.