We love to watch actors leading glamorous lives, and think they have it easy. However, their work-life is not devoid of stress, pay-gap, bias, and inequality. In short, they face the same challenges as other workplaces. When we discuss disparity, the one thing that we need to focus on is pay disparity or gender pay disparity.
You can find pay disparity, literally everywhere you go. We can say the same about Hollywood. According to Forbes, the most successful actresses’ pay packet in Hollywood was significantly lower than the actor’s pay packet in 2018. The top ten actresses’ combined salary was around $186 million, while the actors’ combined salary was around $748.5 million!
Scarlett Johansson
2018’s most glaring example of pay parity was Scarlet Johansson. She made $198.5 million less than George Clooney, the highest-paid actor. Scarlet was riding the wave of success of Marvel Cinematic Universe and was then the highest-paid actress as she raked in $40,5 million. In comparison, George Clooney, the highest-earning actor, raked in $239 million years. The pay disparity is undoubtedly a cause for concern as Scarlet was the only actress who was in the sniffing distance to be the highest-paid actor/actress in Hollywood. And she was the only actress to rub shoulders in this department and feature in the top 10.
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams was another actress who bore the brunt of gender-based pay parity. She even went to Capitol Hill to discuss the same. The gender pay gap, in this case, was enormous. She was paid just $1,000 to Mark Wahlberg’s $1.5 million for reshooting some parts of their film, All the Money in the World.
This hard-to-accept fact was not surprising, as she reiterated women worldwide have to settle for much less. They work hard at the office and even shouldering more responsibility at home. Albeit, her statements ruffled a few feathers, it became a hot topic of discussion on Twitter. And there was a $2 million donation for the Time’s Up Defence Fund. It was the much-needed conversation starter.
Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence
The two bona fide stars, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, received almost 2% less than their male costars in American Hustle. Although all the female actors shared almost the same screen time as their male counterparts, they had to settle for just 7% of the movie’s profits. However, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, and Jeremy Renner received 9%.
Adams accepted it with a pinch of salt. However, Lawrence, who was fast becoming one of the most accomplished and bankable stars around, thanks to her back-to-back successful films such as ‘The Hunger Games‘ and ‘X-Men.’ She was shocked out of her wit’s end. Lawrence blamed it on herself. She thought she gave up early when she fought harder for her rights.
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson, The Crown actress who had worse luck at the payment department, got far less money. Yes, almost half than her co-actor of many years, David Duchovney, at the return of The X-Files. Gillian spoke candidly about the gender pay disparity and how she fought tooth and nail for it.
She did receive equal pay, but she had to work hard for it, hardly making it any better. Anderson should not work hard for something that ideally should be hers, anyway. She was also concerned that the press kept asking her how she felt about it. Her only response was that it would happen again, and every time she has to fight for pay parity.
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron, who went on to star in the film, Snow White and The Huntsman’s pay was a lot less than Chris Hemsworth, who played Huntsman. She finally got the salary that was at par with that of Hemsworth’s. Charlize fought for it, and she asks all women to put their foot down when it comes to fighting for their rights, equal rights.
When it comes to working place pay rights, women deserve equal pay, not more, not less, just equal. It’s time people understood that. We are sure there are more actresses and women out there who are struggling with the same issue. Still, there are ways to deal with this, such as strengthening negotiating positions, highlighting pay parity, strengthening the negotiation positions, and more. Well, with time, women would certainly get there!