Sexism in Hollywood doesn’t seem to be waning anytime soon. Natalie Portman seems to be among the many women in Hollywood that are being paid less than their male costars.
Natalie Portman has joined the long list of actresses who are speaking out about the gender pay gap in Hollywood. The 35-year-old Jewish actress told Marie Claire UK recently that her costar Ashton Kutcher was paid three times more than her for their 2011 film “No Strings Attached.” Portman said she should have made a bigger deal about it at the time, looking back on it:
“I wasn’t as pissed as I should have been. I mean, we get paid a lot, so it’s hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy.
I knew and I went along with it. [Kutcher’s quote] was three times higher than mine, so they said he should get three times more.
Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar.”
The 2011 romantic comedy earned $150 at the box office globally, according to Forbes. So while Portman made pretty good money from it, Kutcher made a lot more for the same amount of work, which is not OK, regardless of how much it is.
According to The Pew Research Center, the gender wage gap varies based on gender, race and ethnicity. For instance, black women make about 65 cents to the dollar a white man makes, while hispanic women only earn 58 cents. Portman went on to say that women need to be given more opportunities:
“I don’t think women and men are more or less capable. We just have a clear issue with women not having opportunities. We need to be part of the solution, not perpetuating the problem.”
Portman is right–we need to be our own allies.
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