Romola Garai: “I work in an industry where it is still acceptable to humiliate women”

The 'Suffragette' actress calls out double standards in Hollywood

Actress Romola Garai has spoken out against the industry in which she works saying that Hollywood treats women as commodities. 

Romola, who stars in the new movie Suffragette, said: “I work in an industry where it is acceptable to humiliate women. You are expected to wear certain clothes because they are selling a show on the way you look.”

The 33-year-old said that she had previously been made to feel like she should lose weight and spoke of the pressures on young actresses to accept jobs that they wouldn’t normally be comfortable with. 

She told ES Magazine: “If you have been waiting tables for two years and somebody gives you a job on a massive TV show and they say, ‘we want you to get your tits out,’ you’re going to f***ing do it. Then you have to wait to be powerful enough to say, ‘no,’ but then you have to be a producer. As long as a films are being made by five guys who know that, ‘if she gets her knockers out,’ this film will make $10million more, then it’s not going to change.”

Romola has been working as an actress for a long time and has previously starred in films such as One Day and Atonement. She hit back at filmmakers for making women feel that they should fear for their jobs because of their body size or shape.

She said: “For me the weight thing is a metaphor for control. Making women feel weak because they’re so insecure so they won’t disagree with the director or studio. Women feel afraid they’re going to lose their careers, afraid of being fat or ageing. If you can’t get into the dresses, it is a really big deal. I just want to be employed by people who love me as I am.”