Actresses Can't Act Like They are Treated Equally Any Longer

Women all over the world are held to a certain role or bound to a specific attitude that society has taught them to become.  In an excerpt form The Reproduction of Mothering Nancy Chodorow explains how and why the standards that women have today are present.  Her explanation focuses specifically on the maternal qualities that women must uphold.  But why is it that just because biologically women bear children and have lactation capacities they are automatically designated as the "mothering" caregiver? This role isn't given to women, it is more so assumed and that is where inequality enters the picture.  Of course Chodorow isn't trying to discourage mothering, mothering is important to both child development and family dynamics, however, the term "mothering" is designated solely to the woman in a marriage, with a man, who works in the industry, and comes home to a kept home, and eats the dinner that his wife cooks, while she has a baby in one arm, and his plate in another.  Recognition of these social standards are what have created femisim and other ways to make women equal to men, however Chodorow points out, "women continue to mother, and most people still marry.  Women remain discriminated against in the labor force and unequal in the family, and physical violence against women is not decreasing."  Mothering assumes a weakness in women and that assumption creates women's inequality in society.

Patricia Arquette, leading actress in the film boyhood, stood before an audience at the Oscars and proclaimed her thoughts on gender equality. She said, "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." Not only did her speech receive a round of applause from the audience but it also prompted standing ovations from both women and men throughout the audience, for example Meryl Streep and Ethan Hawke.  After the Sony scandal major gender pay gaps were revealed.  In the award winning film, "American Hustle," actors Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, and director David O. Russell all got 9 percent of back-end profits, however, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence only received 7 percent.  Also according to an article called "Behind Arquette's Oscar Speech: Hollywood's Pay Gap Looks a Lot Like Ours"  in the Wall Street Journal, it isn't just women in Hollywood that are experiencing this pay gap.  
The chart above evaluates the percentage that women earn of males earnings that are in the same occupation.  These statistics are to me really eye opening and just reinforce the problem that is still being created for women today.  Although there have been improvements in women's roles in society there is still work that needs to be done, and both Chodorow and Arquette know where to start.