Patricia Arquette Gets That Wage Equality Speech Right This Time

Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette made quite a rousing speech as she accepted her award for Best Supporting Actress, calling for equal pay for women. Her words gave Meryl Streep a case of the “yaas,” but her comments afterward had people up in arms. In a backstage interview, Patricia elaborated on her speech. “People think we have equal rights; we don’t,” she said. “Until we pass a constitutional amendment, we won’t have anything changed. It’s time for all women in America and all the men who love women and all the gay people and people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.”

Those comments gave many people pause — surely, Ms. Arquette must know that women of color have to fight for wage equality, especially since they are paid even less than white women. And, uh, we’re pretty sure there are gay women (and men!) affected by wage inequality, too, so we’re not sure what she was trying to get at with that particular statement.

But on Tuesday at UN Women’s Planet 50-50 by 2030, the actress took the stage to clarify some of her words, and offer a more comprehensive version of what she was trying to say.

“So let’s be honest: We have in place fair-pay laws that are not ensuring fair pay to women. The effect of the gender gap is most oppressive for women of color. In the United States, Latina women working full-time are taking home 56 cents to every dollar earned by her male, white co-workers. In California, which is the seventh-largest economy in the whole world, that number dropped last year to 44 cents on the dollar. African-American women earn just 64 cents. White American women may now average 78 cents on the dollar. Countless lesbian women and women in the transgender community also suffer wage penalties that hurt them and their families. And the women in our transgender community are suffering even more; most are not even able to get a job.”

That’s more like it. It seems that in between the frenzy of her Oscar win and now, Patricia has gotten hip to something we like to call intersectionality. And to that we say: 

Image: Tumblr

[via The Cut]

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