If you need proof of what a problem the gender wage gap is today, just look at the numbers.
Women in the United States earn an average of 79 cents for every dollar men take home. The gap widens even more for women of color.
Even Hollywood actresses aren't immune to being paid less than their male co-stars.
But thanks to celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Watson, public conversations about closing the wage gap are finally taking place. And that's good news for women in every industry.
In an election year, talking about issues, like equal pay for women, is especially important. In Refinery29's Vote Your Values poll, conducted with ABC News, 11% of millennial women asked about a range of topics listed equal pay for women as the most important election issue to them.
Click through to see what some of Hollywood's biggest names have said about equal pay. We'll be updating this list with more celebrities' opinions, so be sure to check back as the election season continues.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that women in the United States earn 79 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men. While the gender wage gap is real in the United States, the specific discrepancies are more nuanced.
Robin Wright
"I was looking at the statistics, and Claire Underwood's character was more popular than [Frank's] for a period of time. So I capitalized on it," Wright said of her demand for equal pay on House of Cards, according to a Huffington Post report. "I was like, 'You better pay me, or I'm going to go public.' And they did."
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images.
Beyoncé
"We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn't a reality yet," Beyoncé argued in 2014. "Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77% of what the average working man makes. But, unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change."
Photo: Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock.
Emma Watson
"The reality is that, if we do nothing, it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work," Watson said in 2014.
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
Melinda Gates
"We have this hidden assumption, we assume that women are going to do all this work at home, all these chores, and so our economy is built on the backs of women, assuming they're going to do this work. And we need to start rebalancing that," Gates told Refinery29 earlier this year.
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
Jennifer Lawrence
"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself," Lawrence wrote in an issue of Lenny Letter. "I failed as a negotiator, because I gave up early. I didn't want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don't need."
Photo: Amy Sussman/Variety/REX/Shutterstock.
Jessica Alba
"Women don't get equal pay, there are not as many women in government positions or business positions," Alba told Cosmopolitan earlier this year. "It's just not equal. And until there is equality, you're going to feel that, in any industry."
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