“I don’t like the fact that I get paid less than the boys even though I’ve worked as hard as them."
With the likes of Quantico, Baywatch and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, both Bollywood’s Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have enjoyed successful outings in Hollywood.
However, Priyanka Chopra has spoken out about the gender pay gap, causing inequality between male and female actors.
Priyanka has previously experienced the low wages in India compared to her male co-stars. Is it the same in Hollywood?
In an interview with LinkedIn, Priyanka discusses the topic of the gender gap in the acting industry.
She says: “This dialogue is important. This conversation is important for people to understand and realise the hypocrisy of it is important.”
Whilst making Hindi films in India, Chopra says she complained about her low pay. She was unhappy when the producers’ response was that she can easily be replaced.
Priyanka is ranked the eighth highest paid TV actresses in the world, earning $11 million (£9 million). Her wage equals to 11th place on the actors’ list, earning the same as Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family. She addresses the wage gap in an interview with BBC.
She says: “I don’t like the fact that I get paid less than the boys even though I’ve worked as hard as them. I don’t like the fact that the disparity is so massive.”
Priyanka adds:
“When the audience is ready to watch a female led film, with a woman on the poster, and make it into a $40 million film, we will get paid for it.”
But exactly how much less do women lead stars get compared to men?
Amir Khan (starred in Dangal) and Salman Khan (Sultan) gained up to $40-50 million (£33-41 million) for their films in 2016. Female stars make around a fifth of that amount.
In 2015, Shahrukh Khan addressed the issue of the gender pay gap in a BBC interview. He said:
“We can start with pay being equal. In our company [Red Chillies Entertainment], we believe in putting female stars’ names before the male stars’ names. These are insignificant things in comparison to what needs to be done, but having said that, when I see women working in Bollywood or other industries, I feel there is a certain movement of equality.”
Is the gender pay gap the same in Hollywood?
35-year-old actress Natalie Portman spoke to Mare Claire UK about her wage difference compared to her male co-star Ashton Kutcher in their 2011 film, No Strings Attached.
The Oscar-winning actress says:
“I mean, we get paid a lot so it’s hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy… Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar.”
Other Hollywood actresses have talked about their views on the gender pay gap.
Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence was similarly paid significantly less than her male co-stars in her 2013 film American Hustle.
She says: “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. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early.”
She blamed her desire to be liked, or a fear of seeming “difficult” or “spoilt”. But she has determined to toughen up.
Figures show that women in media roles earn 85 percent of what male actors receive.
Additionally, female stars tend to see their earnings drop after the age of 34 while men see a change after 51.
Will the gender pay gap ever change in Hollywood or Bollywood?
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