Patricia Arquette Fights Pay Inequality in Hollywood
Oscar winner Patricia Arquette, whose Oscar acceptance speech spotlighted Hollywood's pay inequality, continues to champion the issue.
In an industry where male actors consistently receive more than their female counterparts, actress Patricia Arquette, who received an Oscar for her role in "Boyhood" last year, is using her newfound clout to continue fighting for equal rights and equal pay for women in Hollywood.
Arquette, 47, who first burst into the movie scene with her debut on "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" in 1987, said while the pay inequality between men and women is prevalent in a majority of occupations, she insists paying both male and female actors equally will lead to an increase in the number of successful women in the film industry.
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The pay gap was first spotlighted during the massive Sony data hack in November 2014, where a salary disparity was spotted, showing even the most successful women in Hollywood, from actresses all the way to directors, were paid much less than their male counterparts on the same level.
In fact, data outed after the hack showed even the less successful males in the industry were paid more than A-list actresses, and Arquette stresses that is an issue that cannot be ignored.
She further cited how British actress Emily Blunt has lobbied for more action roles for women and how fellow Oscar winner Charlize Theron demanded a pay raise when she discovered, also via the Sony hack, that she was being paid less than her male co-stars in 2012's "Snow White and The Huntsman," despite her having a major role in the movie.
Arquette, who has since appeared in films like "Ed Wood," "True Romance," and "Stigmata," also highlighted the ongoing sexism in the industry where women are hired mostly based on how they look and start losing film roles when they reach a certain age.
According to Fortune, she once recalled a director who told her to lose 10 pounds, as long as her "boobs didn't get smaller."
