The glamorous life of Hollywood stars can sometimes seem hard for the average person to relate to. But when it comes to dealing with gender discrimination, it looks like today's female stars are - unfortunately - just like us! Even in the upper echelon of Hollywood, there are pay inequities between men and women. A number of prominent actresses have begun to speak up about pay discrimination in Hollywood and what it might take to close the gap. Jennifer Aniston, famous for her role in Friends and most recently in the film Cake, revealed her own battles with Hollywood sexism: "We're very much a sexist society. Women are still not paid as much as men. I've been up against negotiations myself." She's not alone. Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, who starred in Snow White and Huntsmen in 2012, reportedly refused to take part in the film unless she was paid as much as her co-star, Chris Hemsworth. And who can forget Patricia Arquette at this year's Oscar awards: "To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America."And it's not just the Tinseltown stars who are discriminated against. In 2014, Sony was a victim of a major cyber-attack, as a result, documents were released which revealed confidential information about what some stars earned for their work on the big screen. The Sony hack also revealed serious pay discrepancies between Sony executives throughout the company. Of the 17 Sony executives earning $1 million or more, only one was a woman. Sony was caught off-guard when this information was revealed, but it's clear that the company is not an anomaly. The U.S. Department of Labor broke down the pay gap for different industries and found that women in the arts, entertainment, sports, and media industry earned on average 85% of that of their male counterparts. Some actresses are taking matters into their own hands. Reese Witherspoon started her own production company because she believes that women "deserve better." Witherspoon describes that she "set out with the idea that I wanted to develop material that has strong female leads. I wanted to make movies about what I want to put out into the world -- put some good into the world." It's a bold step in the Boys Club of Hollywood, and it's one that is paying off. Her company produced the critically acclaimed "Gone Girl" and "Wild," both movies have strong female leads.In addition to lower pay, women in Hollywood seldom have roles behind the camera. In the last five years, the number of films by major studios directed by a woman ranged between 4% and 8%. There are plenty of female directors doing independent films, but big studios are far less likely to choose female directors for big-budget films. This bias towards men makes it difficult for women to break into the directing world. It's why the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for directing, Kathryn Bigelow, was in 2010! Even the most prominent stars face sexism and inequality in the workplace. While it can be hard to feel bad for someone making $30 million dollars a year, Hollywood can be viewed as an example of larger issue. Individual factors aside, it's clear the pay gap does affects everyone, in every industry, around the country. Just like Charlize Theron and Jennifer Aniston, negotiating may be the first step to closing this gap. Reese Witherspoon stated that "It's great to speak up, but what I really think is you've got to do something." And she's right! Whether $30 million or $30,000, equal pay for equal work should be a given. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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