Dame Julie Walters has spoken out about equal pay, saying women should be paid the same as men for “doing the same bloody job”.
The veteran actress is the latest in a string of stars to call out the entertainment industry about gender disparity.
Her comments come after the BBC’s top earning stars revealed that white men earned significantly higher than women and BAME talent.
The BAFTA-winning actress, who has starred in iconic movies including Billy Elliot, said she simply wanted equality amongst the sexes.
Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Walters claimed not enough people are aware of the disparity between men and women’s earnings.
“It’s about equality of opportunity… It’s good that we’re talking about it. It should be out there. A lot of people don’t know that it is the case.”
“Why [should male actors be paid more]? It’s the same bloody job!”
“It’s women who go to the cinema more generally speaking, so it doesn’t make sense from that point of view either.”
“I think it’s wrong. Equal pay is the answer.”
Walters also spoke about continuing to work, despite getting older.
“When I reached 60, I thought I don’t know if I want to carry on and I thought I could retire,” she admitted. “But then a play came in from The National that I thought was fantastic!
“I don’t think I will formally retire,” she told the magazine. “I will just fade out of the business.”
The Mamma Mia star joins several women in the industry who have spoken out recently about gender disparity.
Earlier this year, Jennifer Lawrence, Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington showed their support for Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg’s initiative.
The campaign aims to address that women are paid 20 per cent less than men in the United States, using the hashtag #20PercentCounts.
