Viola Davis Tells Hollywood "Pay Me What I’m Worth"

For all the attention the issue receieves, when it comes to equalizing the gender pay gap, Hollywood has yet to make considerable strides to fix the problem. A study in Forbes from 2015 emphasized how “grossly underrepresented and underpaid” women in film and television were, as compared to their male counterparts. It’s of course, not just in Hollywood that this is happening, gender pay gaps are present across many industries. However, just like the #MeToo and TimesUp movements, artists in Hollywood know just how influential their voices can be for change.

Back in February of 2016, Viola Davis was interviewed by Mashable and had this to say about the gender pay gap in Hollywood: “I believe in equal pay, first of all. I’m sorry, if a woman does the same job as a man, she should be paid the same amount of money. She just should. That’s just the way the world should work. What are you telling your daughter when she grows up? ‘You’ve got to just understand that you’re a girl. You have a vagina, so that’s not as valuable.’ What are you telling her?”

Two years later, the 52-year-old actress is at it again, not only speaking as a woman, but as an African American woman. During a “Women In The World” conference, she had this to say:

What they’re getting paid — which is half of what a man is getting paid — well, we get probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets. And I’m No. 1 on the call sheet.

I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys. I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done Off Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film. I’ve done all of it. And yet, I am nowhere near them, not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities. Nowhere close to it.

People say, ‘You’re a black Meryl Streep. You are. And we love you. We love you. There is no one like you.’ OK, then if there’s no one like me, if you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth. You give me what I’m worth.

Those are some fighting words from Viola and we’re in total agreement about her arguments here. It’s a severe problem that has afflicted almost every industry in the United States. Patricia Arquette eloquently summed it up last year by stating:

Look, inequality is in 98 percent of all industries, so I’m not surprised it’s still in Hollywood. That’s just part and parcel with what’s happening across the nation. A lot of studios are actually really making it a priority. There’s incremental changes as far as Hollywood goes.

She’s right — we’ve seen change, but not enough. The countless examples are just so many that it hasn’t even become a question of “is it really happening,” but rather “how do we stop it?” The answer to the latter is still very much part of the conversation, but hopefully solutions aren’t far behind. [via The Wrap]