Stars can do more for pay equality
Jennifer Lawrence is the world’s highest-paid actress, the “Hunger Games” star having pulled in $52 million last year. But in an essay published in an online newsletter this week, Lawrence complained the men who co-starred with her in 2013’s “American Hustle” were paid more.
Lawrence, 25, blames herself for not being a tougher negotiator, noting women bargaining for higher pay worry about seeming aggressive or spoiled. She vows to stop being so nice when it comes to talking compensation.
We have to wonder why Lawrence would dirty her hands in such negotiations when she can certainly afford a whole team of agents and lawyers to do it for her, but that is beside the point Lawrence was trying to make. That point is women in this country make, on average, 78 cents to each dollar earned by men, and Hollywood is no exception.
According to Forbes magazine, the world’s 18 highest-paid actresses earned a combined $281 million before taxes and fees – $660 million less than the 34 highest-paid actors, who earned a combined $941 million. Only four actresses made more than $20 million last year, while 21 actors banked more than $20 million.
Robert Downey Jr. earned $80 million last year – $28 million more than Lawrence.
Lawrence realizes many of us might have a difficult time working up sympathy for her. She wrote: “It’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable.”
That’s an understatement. Not many people are going to feel outrage over Lawrence being shorted a few million when she has mountains of money that she has no idea what to do with.
But pay inequality is real and worthy of being raged against. Our roles as men and women in this society have changed much the past couple of generations, but there is still a long way to go before the sexes reach parity in the workplace. Jobs that are almost exclusively filled by men pay more than those jobs that are done only by women. And in many cases, even though a host of laws prohibit it, men are earning more than women for doing the same work.
This needs to change, and attention to the situation helps. Hollywood stars, however, could do more than whine about the injustices of their own paychecks.
We hope Lawrence can use her fame to draw attention to the plight of the maids who clean her hotel rooms and the women who do her laundry and make her clothes.