September 22, 2019 by Madison Redd
Gender Wage Gap in Hollywood(1)
Would you believe me if I told you your favorite actress is making almost $1.1 million dollars less than a male actor? As an outsider to the world of Hollywood, I would never have expected this. We follow the lives of celebrities almost, if not more, than we do the life of our own president. Therefore, this wage gap in Hollywood can have serious repercussions on the rest of society.
When I became interested…
I am surrounded by very powerful and strong women in my life. My mother, grandmother, aunt, female teachers, and advisors have shown me how to be independent and taught me to never rely on a man to provide for me. I would consider myself to be on the more liberal political spectrum, for I am a huge advocate for woman’s rights. I am currently enrolled in a Women and Gender Studies course at San Francisco State University. I have always been very curious about the mistreatment of women from previous history classes and readings. However, this class really focuses on how this role of women suppression began. Women in the 1800’s were property of their father when they were born and then once they got married were property of their husband. Women were domestic workers and the image of wage gap inequality arose when men began getting paid for jobs women did at home FOR FREE! This information from class popped into my head when researching the Hollywood wage gap because women fought for civil rights in the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s to prevent civil rights issues later on. Unfortunately, they are now apparent in one of the biggest industries in the world.
Reasons for the wage gap…
The gender wage gap in Hollywood has become a lot more prevalent with Women’s Rights Movements currently. Female actresses are speaking up about the unequal pay between themselves and their co-stars. In Sofia Izquierdo Sanchez’s article, Hollywood’s million dollar gender pay- revealed, she argues that the wage gap can be due to the actors “financial success of the previous films that actors had been in, the genre of the film and the actor’s popularity (based on things like social media followers)” (Sanchez, Sofia Izquierdo).These factors affect the wage gap tremendously; however, do these factors gage the actor’s actual ability to act? The amount of Instagram followers does not equate to an actresse’s ability to act. It does not mean that the actress does not have the proper skills or should not be paid any less than that of their co-star. Yes, I do agree that bigger names in a film can attract more viewers, yet, even the biggest names in Hollywood do not have the highest number of followers. These big names prefer to keep their life private and rather they stay off social media all together.
Hollywood’s gender wage gap is said to be based off a number of different aspects. Continuing in Sofia’s article, another aspect of the gender gap is that women are more passive when it comes to asking for higher pay. There is, “the idea is that women do not push harder for higher salaries or profit shares. But Hollywood stars retain professional agents that negotiate on their behalf… Stars of both genders are also often represented by the same agent or agency” (Sanchez, Sofia Izquierdo).This information to me was rather contradictory because it states that women do not push hard for their pay. Nevertheless, women higher professional agents that they are trusting to have their best interests in mind, to make negotiations and agreements that will make them the most money. If these agents represent both men and women, like the article said, then there should hypothetically be no wage gap in Hollywood.
Examples…
In a video from CBSLA News, they did a news broadcast about how Hollywood has made strides with the “Me Too” Movement by obtaining justice for sexual harassment from co-stars and directors. However, they have made no changes in the wage gap. In the example that the news used, they discussed the movie “American Hustle” by director David O. Russell in 2013. The main actors were Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, and Amy Adams. The news reporter stated, “each [actor] worked on the film for similar amounts of time, but Bale and Cooper were paid $2.5 million each, along with 9 percent of the profits, compared to Adams receiving $1.25 million 7 percent of the profits” (CBS). Now, how does that seem fair? They each had worked equally as hard and as long as the other, yet Amy Adams gets paid less. This system is corrupting and it automatically puts women at an economic disadvantage when entering a job.
Why is it important?
The gender wage gap in Hollywood is important because Hollywood is very influential in our societies culture. As fans, we occupy large parts of your day by following our favorite celebrities’ lives. To some fans, their favorite celebrities are people they model themselves after. Hollywood is influential to the point that it has molded pop-culture and if we see famous people doing something, such as gender wage gap, the rest of society believes that that behavior is just.
Further questions…
- How do the male co-stars feel about openly making more money than female actresses? Do they feel remorse?
2. When there is an all female cast do they all get paid the same amount?
3. How does this gender wage gap spread to different minority racial groups?
Works Cited
Cbs. “Hollywood Pay Gap Persists Even As ‘Me Too’ Movement Leads To Positive Industry Changes.” CBS Los Angeles, CBS Los Angeles, 17 Sept. 2019, losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/09/17/hollywood-pay-gap-university-of-wisconsin-study/.
Sanchez, Sofia Izquierdo. “Hollywood’s Million Dollar Gender Pay Gap — Revealed.” The Conversation, 13 Sept. 2019, theconversation.com/hollywoods-million-dollar-gender-pay-gap-revealed-123219.
