Objective or not ?

Plain-speaking David Holdsworth, custodian of BBC local radio, has acquired a writing style of some elegance for a piece lurking in the "Women in Leadership" of the Guardian Professional Section.

In it he makes it clear that Lord Hall's ambition to reach a figure of  50% female presentation of local radio breakfast shows by the end of 2014 is just that, and not a target.

It's important to stress that this is an aspiration, not a quota; aside from concerns of unfairness, a quota would undermine the credibility of every great female presenter we appointed. 

This aspiration makes perfect sense to us. BBC Local Radio has around 600 presenters, which is more than all the BBC main radio networks, the services for the devolved nations and the English language World Service combined. 

So a positive change to representation on local radio makes a significant impact on the whole industry. With so many great national broadcasters starting out in our stations, it also means that changes we make now will shape the voices we all hear on national radio in five and ten years' time. 

Being the focus of attention on this issue is no stigma; rather it acknowledges our significance and that we have a role to play in leading a change that should eventually happen everywhere in radio.

All very sensible. But then a revelation. Clearly, when half of our staff are women, it's not right that just a quarter of the hours we transmit feature female presenters. We can and must do better.

I think if I were a pressure group, say, like Sound Women, I'd want more figures from Mr Holdsworth. A baseline of the current gender balance of all 600 local radio presenters, so that we can genuinely say that more women have been recruited, rather than shuffled round the schedules. I may need a bigger grid.