12 Celebrity Women On Gender Inequality In Hollywood

"We need more diversity. We're not telling the stories of many, we're telling the stories of few. There's a problem with the storytelling, with the protagonists...it's in front of the camera, it's behind the camera...This is not how we want to be working and we need to tell the stories of all." "There's misinformation out there. Someone wrote an article once that I made a certain amount of money for The Martian. I made less than a quarter of that in reality. And so people are already saying, 'yeah, she's making less than her male co-stars because she's making this.' I made less than a quarter of that in reality. There is a huge wage gap in the industry." —HuffPost Live, October 2015

"Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong…It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum, not as two opposing sets of ideals." —At the HeForShe Campaign launch, September 2014

"I would be lying if I didn't say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled.' At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn't worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled.'" "I'm over trying to find the 'adorable' way to state my opinion and still be likable! F*ck that. I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard." —Lenny, October 2015

"Feminists believe that men and women should have the same opportunities. If you are a feminist you believe in equal rights as a whole. That's not a concept you can really shoot down." "We're going to be compensated fairly for our jobs, we're going to be given the opportunity to make choices about our bodies and we're going to be safe." —JFL42 Comedy Festival in Toronto, Fall 2014

"No one has ever asked an actor, 'You're playing a strong-minded man.' We assume that men are strong-minded, or have opinions. But a strong-minded woman is a different animal." —60 Minutes, December 2011

"Obviously we need to create more opportunities, it's not an even playing field...We also need to put cameras in little girls' hands and get them to tell stories and increase their confidence so that they can feel powerful." —At the Women in Film's Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles, June 2015

"To me, the thing that's more unfair than the pay is the terminology that's used to describe actresses who have a point of view, and want to have a voice in their life and their career, and what they choose to do. I've been called horrible things. If a man was acting in the same way that I was acting, it would just be considered normal. To me, that's the thing I find so frustrating is calling women spoiled brats and b*tches. We just want to have a voice in our life, and I don't think that's anything that shouldn't be encouraged in any human." —The Guardian, October 2015

"You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don't make as much money as men do. I don't understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?" —GQ, February 2013 issue

"As long as women make up only 20 percent of Congress, as long as senior movie studio execs are 93 percent male, and only four percent of studio films are directed by women; as long as the President of the United States, the VP, the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tem, the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, of Defense, are all men—you have to go seven layers down to find a woman, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, on the succession plan—then I'd say, Yes, we need 'women's media.' We need as many 'women in' gatherings that we can dream up." —ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards, October 2015

"It's a male-dominated and driven business...You need to make something that's undeniably good. If a woman makes a bad movie, or does something stupid, then the door just slams shut. It's f*cked up." —The Daily Beast, September 2014

"I want every version of a woman and a man to be possible...The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you're making a 'feminist' story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That's not feminist; that's macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with." —Elle UK, November 2013 issue

"Having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian, or as a trans person or as any member of any disenfranchised community is sadly often still a radical idea." —During her GLAAD Vanguard Award acceptance speech, March 2015