The pay gap isn’t just a gender issue, it’s a race issue to. And Viola Davis has had enough of it.
Speaking about the systematic discrimination and inherently unfair dynamic that we’ve come to know so well over the last couple of years now, Viola Davis addressed the comparisons drawn between herself and Meryl Streep. And, in a nut shell, if people are going to refer to her as the ‘black Meryl’, they sure as hell better start paying her as much as Meryl is getting.
‘We won’t talk about gender inequality of pay’, she told journalist Tina Brown at the Women in the World Salon event in LA this week, ‘because a lot of the women who have stepped forward, and I stand in solidarity with them, but what they’re getting paid, which is half of what a man is getting paid, well we get probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets. And I’m number one on the call sheet. And then I have to go in and I have to hustle for my work.
As I’m sure many of us know, asserting your worth is not an easy thing to do. Historically, women are neither taught nor encouraged to in the same way that men are. But in the complicated climate of the important conversations we’re having across all lots of industries, it’s crucial to be just as aware of the pay discrepancies within the shiny sisterhood that’s vocally fighting for equality.
Viola described her career as being ‘comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver. They all came out of Yale, they came out of Juilliard, they came out of NYU. They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them – not as far as money, not a far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it’.
The bitter irony, she explained, is that the scale of her talent is far from unnoticed. We’ve watched her pick up Oscars, Emmy’s, on TV, in films, on Broadway and off Broadway. But as Viola explained, that’s apparently not enough to earn her a fair, competitive wage. ‘People say “you’re a black Meryl Streep, we love you. There is no one like you”’, Viola recalled. ‘OK, then if there’s no one like me, you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth’.
READ MORE: Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About In 2018
Debrief Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About In 2018
1 of 81. A Wrinkle In Time
Based on the book of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle, a movie adaptation directed by Ava DuVernay is on the way and if you haven't watched the trailer/seen that incredible Time magazine cover, you need to get on board because it's really exciting. It's a fantasy adventure film starring Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon and with this film Ava DuVernay has become the fourth woman and first African American woman to direct a film with a budget of more than $100 million. 23 March 2018
2 of 82. The Spy Who Dumped Me
Directed by Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped me is a comedy with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon starring as BFFs who find out that the guy who dumped one of them is - wait for it- a spy. At the moment we know very little else about the film beyond the fact that Mila wears a blond wig at some point but we'll keep you posted.
3 of 83. Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut comes in the form of Lady Bird, the already hotly anticipated coming of age story that we all wish existed back when we were still in school. In short, it's a beautiful film about a young woman who likes to go by the name Lady Bird who is trying to navigate all of the usual suspects: her mother, her best friend, going to college, sex and, well, herself. 16 February 2018
4 of 84. Blockers
Kay Cannon who wrote the screenplays for the Pitch Perfect films is the director behind this comedy about three parents who find out about their daughters' plan to have sex on Prom night (otherwise referred to as a Sex Pact, apparently) and try to stop it happening. ILeslie Mann is in it and she's great. 6 April 2018
5 of 85. The Darkest Minds
This is another book adaptation that you're going to want to get familiar with real quick. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and starring the incredible Mandy Moore, Amandla Stenberg and Gwendoline Crisitie, The Darkest Minds is all about the 2% of kids in America who survive a crazy disease and end up developing superpowers. It's got a bit of a Hunger Games meets Divergent vibe if you ask me. 14 December 2018
6 of 86. Can You Ever Forgive Me
Get ready for another dose of comedy fave Melissa McCarthy in this Marielle Heller directed project. She stars as the best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel (the film's based on her memoir, you see) who was well known for profiling big shots like Katherine Hepburn and Estee Lauder back in the 70s and 80s. That ism until she lost her groove and ended up selling forged letters and stuff. October 2018
7 of 87. High Life
Celebrated French director Claire Denis has only gone and directed her first English language movie. It's a sci-fi drama starring none other than Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche and Mia Goth and pretty much focuses on a group of convicts who are sent to explore a black hole (knowing that they probably won't be returning from space alive) in return for having their jail sentences reduced. It's about a father-daughter relationship, it's about family, it's about home, it's about the unknown.
8 of 88. You Were Never Really Here
And finally we have a thriller directed by Lynne Ramsay that promises to be the sort of thing that lingers in your mind for a while after watching. You Were Never Really Here is about a private 'contractor' who is tasked with recovering a teenage girl who's gone missing. It's pretty dark and violent and intense but packed a resounding punch at Cannes last year. 9 March 2018
We are seeing slow but vital moves towards greater diversification in the entertainment industry. Representation on screen and behind the camera hasn't changed dramatically, but its moving forward one film at a time. But all of that effort continues to be undermined by Hollywood's continued inability to pay actors equally and in a measure thats legitimately reflective of the scale perfromances.
Viola Davis is incredible. She's a long celebrated, multi-award winning, well respected actress. So if she's not being paid fairly we can only imagine how similar biases are affecting younger, newer actresses of colour who aren't being handed the back handed compliment of being they're the black version of a better paid peer. From here on forward though, Viola says that she's done hustling for her worth. 'I'm worthy', she said. And it's high time that was adequately recognised.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.