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.
It's no secret that women often earn less than men for doing the same work. And that's true of plenty of industries — even when celebrities are involved.
Luckily, more and more female stars are refusing to settle for earning less than they deserve. Actresses are speaking out about the wage gap — and we couldn't be more thrilled.
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In 2015, Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay for Lena Dunham's newsletter, Lenny Letter, about discovering she was earning less than her male costars. The actress explained that she discovered she was being underpaid after reading documents from the Sony hack.
"I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled,'" Lawrence wrote. "At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn't worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled.'"
The same year, Charlize Theron talked to Elle U.K. about the wage gap. The actress said that when she asked for equal pay, the filmmaker in question gave it to her.
"This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing," Theron told the magazine. "It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way."
And this past January, Natalie Portman revealed that she made less money than Ashton Kutcher for their 2011 film No Strings Attached. "Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as me on No Strings Attached," she told Marie Claire U.K.
"I wasn't as pissed as I should have been," Portman told the magazine. "I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy."
Kutcher was quick to support Portman, tweeting that he was "so proud of Natalie and all women who stand up for closing the gender pay gap."
For more wise words from women who've spoken out about equal pay, check out the video below.