Anne Hathaway calls out Hollywood’s gender pay gap

Speaking to Marie Claire UK before the opening of her new film, Mothers’ Instinct, co-produced with friend and fellow Academy Award-Winner Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway called out the gender pay gap.

“We just don’t have equality when it comes to the way that we’re compensated,” argued Hathaway, who has long been vocal about industry inequality.

As a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador—and a bonafide princess—Hathaway is a fierce champion for women’s rights. In a recent address for this year’s International Women’s Day, she called on the United Nations Commemoration to “invest in women.”

In the address, Hathaway acknowledged that “today, we see women holding positions of power in all aspects of society - thank goodness”, but speaking to Marie Claire UK’s News and Features Editor, Mischa Smith, she said, “We just don’t have equality when it comes to the way that we’re compensated and that creates a lack of freedom.”

It comes just days after Olivia Colman—another Oscar-winning actress—told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a fuck of a lot more than I am.”

Mothers’ Instinct Co-producer Jessica Chastain—who is also an advocate for women’s rights (and an Oscar-winner)—likened this power imbalance to how, in ancient civilisations, the ruling class would incite competition and tension among their fiefdoms so that the oppressed would be too distracted fighting each other to fight for power.

Advocating for a better and more equitable future, Hathaway told Marie Claire, “If women are economically empowered, that means that they get to make choices for themselves, and we’ll finally get to see who we really are as opposed to who we’re told we are.”

Mothers’ Instinct might see her play a suburban housewife, but our people’s princess is now ready for the world stage.

Annie for PM!