It’s 2017, and yet women are still fighting for equality. Data suggests it will take until 2152 to close the gender wage gap, but it shouldn’t take a century to get what we want. We want more, and Refinery29 is here to help — because 135 years is too long to wait for what we deserve today.
Representation is an important topic, especially for media. Fans and consumers of media are starting to hold the shows, movies, and networks they love to higher standards. That includes bringing diversity on screen and making sure that representation includes everyone behind the scenes — that means the production team, writing team, directors, and everyone else on the crew. But what does it mean when that representation isn’t as far-reaching as we thought, especially for the shows and films that we already love? In that case, it may be time for those with the largest kinds of visibility to use their platforms to speak up.
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Actress Megan Boone is doing just that, by speaking up about the representation and treatment of the show’s female leads. Since Monday, the actress, best known for her role on NBC’s The Blacklist, took to her Twitter page to speak up on this important issue. It all started when she quoted a tweet by NBC drama’s official account, adding “She’s back and more determined than ever” to the original “He’s back and more determined than ever."
She's back and more determined than ever. #womeninfilm https://t.co/r3HLc2vmmA
— Megan Boone (@MeganBoone) June 19, 2017
In her following tweets, Boone continued to highlight the mistreatment of female leads from the male leads of the show, “Liz-ifying” the promo tweets and adding the #WomenInFilm hashtags to the new additions.
Don't slip on representing the female characters in media proportionately to their contributions. We will talk about it. #womeninfilm https://t.co/SwBX37SUD4
— Megan Boone (@MeganBoone) June 20, 2017
Know your worth GIRLS! No matter what the world says... it just hasn't caught up, yet. Love you
— Megan Boone (@MeganBoone) June 23, 2017
Of course, gender inequality is nothing new in the entertainment field and elsewhere. Women still make significantly less than their male coworkers, even for the same job. Despite this and the other setbacks connected to gender, racism, and gender inequality, women and femme people still face much opposition — but that isn’t stopping them from trying to make a difference.
Gender inequality isn’t going away anytime soon. We need as many people speaking up, speaking out, and rising against it to create the change we want to see.
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