Jennifer Lawrence weighs in on Hollywood gender pay gap

Jennifer Lawrence has     lambasted Hollywood’s     gender pay disparity in a powerful essay where she has finally opened up about the hacked Sony emails that revealed she was paid less than her male co-stars.
Lawrence’s tone is angry and contemplative as she reflects upon the way women are perceived in Hollywood power circles in the piece that she wrote for friend Lena Dunham’s ‘Lenny Letter’ newsletter.
The 25-year-old Hunger Games star said she had kept quiet because she avoids topics that are “trending”.
“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d***s, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. 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,” Lawrence wrote in the essay.
Questioning what could have led to her poor negotiating skills, Lawrence said perhaps she did not want to come across as someone who is “difficult” or “spoiled.”
“At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realised every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’
This could be a young-person thing. It could be a personality thing. I’m sure it’s both,” she said. Lawrence feels she is not the only one with the issue as women, perhaps out of habit, try to express themselves in a non-threatening manner, while men have no such issue.
“All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive. I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable!”
The actress said her co-stars Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper managed to negotiate powerful deals for themselves without coming across as difficult or spoilt. (PTI)