The Problem With Hollywood's Pay Gap!
"Whether you're a woman on a tea plantation in Kenya, or a stockbroker on Wall Street, or a Hollywood actress, no one is being payed equally" - Emma Watson
Out of the top 15 highest paid actors and actresses in the world, only one of them is a woman - Emma Stone - and she's last. By some estimates, the pay gap between men and women isn't supposed to close completely until 2095. That is 77 years from now. That's not good enough. When we revealed this information to Jack, a 14 year old boy, he was in disbelief and incredibly shocked. How is this fair?
Recently 'The Crown' series on Netflix revealed that they paid Matt Smith more than Claire Foy even though Foy was playing the title role. When we asked our Drama teacher what her reaction was to this, she said she was 'absolutely shocked' and its was 'completely unfair'.
The gender pay gap is nothing new, but the recent Hollywood scandals have highlighted the fact that this goes on in every industry, not just the arts. Our drama teacher said that as someone in the arts on the education side, it is so important that we sort out the problems that females face every single day.
So what can we do to help close the pay gap sooner than 2095? We can support the TIMES UP campaign who work to end inequality in the work place. Time really is up and we need to end gender inequality NOW!
Raise awareness! Spread the word to friends and family about how we need to banish the patriarchy of the workplace.
Although a lot has changed in recent years, we aren't quite there yet. We urge you to support the abolishment of the pay gap so your daughters and granddaughters won't go to work worrying about their pay.
by Abby and Maddy