we are equal

Sunday Soapbox 002

equal pay & opportunity

[ Hollywood ]

Ah, I'm so mad!

Ever since actor Benedict Cumberbatch made a rather poignant statement to include in his contract for equal pay for his female co-stars in any given project, I have been thinking of this predicament that has been going on years against them and only just being slowly rectified by the industry. Granted that this oppression of women has been going on actually for centuries that covers every facet of life, not just in the entertainment front. Woman has been considered for not being equal to men in any shape of form with misinformed and blatantly sexist reasons to justify their actions to put them down in any chance they get. They have been treated that way for so long that they only know this way of life and have been brainwashed to just accept their fate and not disturb the status quo. Do you remember that women was only allowed to vote in the 1930's?

“Equal pay and a place at the table are the central tenets of feminism. Look at your quotas. Ask what women are being paid, and say: ‘If she’s not paid the same as the men, I’m not doing it.’”

They have been viewed as such a lesser sex that this distorted viewpoint has been ingrained in the uneducated members of the society and the slow realization that they are actually wrong has thankfully make them change their view on women and start to treat them better at least. Going back into the specific topic at hand, seeing the film industry from the outside is different from the inside since it's not all glitz and glamour. Full disclosure: I know that they are much more unfortunate people out there that deserves much more attention and help compared to the highly paid actors of Hollywood. I'm just focusing on this one situation that's in the limelight the most, with the right action taken on this high of a level would hopefully be the catalyst of changes in other parts of our modern society. Just like how I always focus on the happenings in USA, since they are in the news the most and always in the eyes of the world, anything happens there would reverberate throughout the world, for better or for worse.

Movie-making industry has always been testosterone-filled and the male mainstayers has always been trying to keep it that way, treating the female actors as the accompaniment of the male actors rather than just, you know, actors, with equal value. They never get the chance to lead the project as much as the male counterpart since the inception of the medium hence the continuation of the one-sided attention ... if it isn't broken, why are fixing it, right?! The same can be said for female directors or any other miscellaneous jobs in the industry, if they never get the chance to prove themselves, how do we know they are worth it in the end? With the recent trend however, I am glad to see that the men who were abusing their powers over women are being exposed one by one and this industry is finally, hopefully, gearing up for a change. I did found out just recently that the top earning male and female actor have such a distinct pay gap and looking at the list, it was much more apparent of how lopsided they are. Which is why I applaud Benedict for using his cloud to demand an equal pay for his female co-stars! 

“I’m proud that Adam Ackland and I are the only men in our production company. Our next project is a female story with a female lens about motherhood, in a time of environmental disaster. If it’s centered around my name, to get investors, then we can use that attention for a raft of female projects. Half the audience is female!”

~ Benedict Cumberbatch. ~

I'm just hoping that the studios would follow suit and start to treat the women better.

Fooh ... another great outburst!

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a case for the decent adaptation:

+ Positives +

He is using his power to have his coworkers being paid better. What's not to like! ? Main contention ?

The industry is far from being a fair working environment for both sexes.

- Negatives -

I'm just scared that the Hollywood elites would not learn for recent situations and revert back to their old sexist selves ...

? Trait ?

+ good gesture - rigid industry - built-in sexism + one small step 

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