Jennifer Lawrence is still paid far less than her male co-stars despite being one of the most paid actresses in the world.
In a recent interview with Vogue, the Oscar-winning actress criticized Hollywood’s ongoing gender pay gap, telling the publication that even if actresses are frequently “overpaid,” the disparity still burns.
No matter how much I accomplish, she remarked. I’ll still be paid less than that guy because of my vagina, right?
According to Vanity Fair, Lawrence, 32, made $5 million less than Leonardo DiCaprio for the star-studded dystopian Netflix picture “Don’t Look Up,” which was released in December 2021.
Just before the movie’s premiere, Lawrence told Vanity Fair, “I’m really lucky and satisfied with my agreement. However, in other situations, I’ve seen — and I’m sure other working women have noticed as well — that bringing up equal pay is incredibly uncomfortable. And if you do bring up something that seems off, you’ll be informed it’s not gender inequality but you won’t be told what it is specifically.
According to a 2017 study by three academics, Sofia Izquierdo Sanchez of the University of Huddersfield, Maria Navarro Paniagua of Lancaster University, and John S Heywood of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, women make nearly $1.1 million less than their male co-stars on average.
That disparity is much bigger for actors over 50: Actresses over the age of 40 made roughly $4 million less than male performers. According to other research, white women are vastly overpaid in comparison to women of color.
Lawrence has already spoken out against the salary inequality in Hollywood. Lawrence’s pay for the 2013 movie “American Hustle” was revealed to have been much lower than that of her male co-stars when Sony Pictures’ computer systems were hacked in 2014. Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, and Jeremy Renner each received a 9% cut of the movie’s profits, while Lawrence and Amy Adams only received 7%, according to Business Insider.
Lawrence wrote an editorial for Lena Dunham’s now-defunct Lenny Letter newsletter in which she claimed that following the Sony breach, she wasn’t angry with the production company or her co-stars.
She wrote, “I was upset with myself.” I gave up too soon during negotiations, which is why I failed. I didn’t want to keep squabbling over millions of dollars that, quite simply, I don’t need because of two franchises.
Lawrence continued by saying that she was hesitant to haggle since she didn’t want to appear “difficult” or “spoiled.” That sounded like a good idea at the time, she continued, “until I looked at the payroll online and saw every male I was working with obviously didn’t care about being ‘difficult’ or pampered.