If a woman does the same job as a man, she should be paid the same amount of money. She just should. That’s the way the world should work. It’s indisputable that there’s a real pay gap, people can argue about how big, but that’s almost beside the point. What matters is that every woman, every girl deserves to get paid what they’re worth.
Some people wonder if the gender pay gap for actors has been blown out of proportion from a few cases cherry-picked by the media. If there is a difference in salary between men and women, can it be explained not by sex discrimination but rather by variation in actor quality and film characteristics? The answer to both these dilemmas is no. Discrimination does play a role in salaries. In the film industry, the gender pay gap appears to be significantly larger. In 2017, a comparison of the highest paid male and female actors revealed an average salary of $57.4 million for men and $21.8 million for women. That means that top female actors earn 38% as much as the top male actors. That’s a striking difference that reveals a need for careful, empirical investigation.
Veteran actor Zeenat Aman has spoken about how the Hindi film industry has changed in the last few decades. She however pointed out that the ‘gender pay gap’ has remained the same. Zeenat recalled that she was the ‘highest paid female actor’ in her career but the disparity in the pay cheque between her and her male co-stars ‘was so vast it was laughable.’ She also added, “There are women demanding good roles and refusing to work in films, let’s say have participation. They want to do something, they demand something, they are getting something to do. I think that’s exciting. I think women in India should have something to identify with, other than just ornamentation.”
“Women have consistently put in the work, and I really think that the onus is now on our men – actors, directors, producers – to ensure that their female co-workers (not just stars) are paid fairly. It seems such a simple and obvious thing, and yet it would be revolutionary if any man actually did this.[sic]”
Zeenat Aman (Veteran Bollywood Actress )
Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain said the real problem is the normalization of it. It’s the reason why your agents don’t think twice about paying you a third of your [co-star’s paycheck] — because it’s been so normalized for so long. Whenever you have one demographic that’s in charge of the livelihood of another, you’re going to have abuses of power. It’s a huge conversation for our industry, but I would hope that this is only the tipping point for us to discuss equal pay for equal work for women across every industry. [sic]”
Kajol recently found herself embroiled in a controversy when she made a reference to Shah Rukh Khan’s movie ‘Pathaan’ while discussing pay parity at the Jagran Film Festival in Delhi. This incident comes shortly after her previous controversial joke about the same film’s collection. When asked about pay parity, Kajol responded, “When you start making a ‘Wonder Woman’ for India and it does equally well as a ‘Pathaan’, then maybe there will be pay equality. [sic]” I don’t think she has put her words in a well explanatory way here like Aamir did. Aamir’s viewpoint centered on the notion that pay should be determined by an individual’s ability to draw audiences to the theatres. He emphasized-
“See, in films, the fact of the matter is that your fee is connected to your ability to fill the theatre. Yes, heroines work very hard, but so do cameramen, and so do the light boys on the set, all of us should be paid equally.”
Aamir Khan (Bollywood Actor)
When the interviewer inquired, “You are comparing the heroine with a light boy?” Aamir calmly responded that he wasn’t, and continued, “I’m comparing the heroine, the light-boy and myself. All of us are working hard, I’m working hard, and so is the light boy. Why is he paid differently than me? It’s not because he’s a man or a woman, you are confusing the issue there. If I’m paid Rs. 10, it is because I can bring back that money and more. If Rani can fill in more seats than I can, 101 percent, she will be paid more than me. The market forces and makes sure that she gets paid more than I do. [sic]” While many might argue that this seems like a privileged POV, but it perfectly makes sense. The kind of audience Salman Khan and Shah Rukh or even Aamir for that matter would pull, can’t be expected from actresses like Ananya Pandey, Tara Sutaria or even Bhumi Pednekar.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been one of the most prominent advocates of pay parity with her recent project Citadel being the first time ever she had pay parity, two decades into her career. She said that even she didn’t believe that it was possible when her agents floated the idea of demanding equal pay to her. Priyanka said that she had accepted that she’d always make less than her male co-stars, especially after working for so long in India, where her requests for more money than what she was being offered weren’t considered.
What’s more, a comparison of average salaries doesn’t account for differences in quality that could justify earnings differences. For example, an actor who has been honored with an Oscar or with a track record of attracting large theatre audiences would understandably earn more than an actor without these accomplishments. Earnings disparities between groups are not necessarily the result of discrimination, even if the individuals are working in the same occupation.
In somecases, differences in earnings can be explained on the basis of merit; in other words, factors like differences in worker skill and work intensity can influence differences in wages. Some argue that individuals may willingly make choices that have negative effects on their salary.
It’s been argued that women are more likely to sacrifice salary for a job that has flexible hours, offers childcare or better health benefits. Is it possible that in our setting women are more likely than men to choose roles in romance or comedy over high-budget action films? Do women sometimes choose careers because they don’t think they’ll be hired in the areas that they are truly passionate about, or because they have been pressured to believe that they can’t be successful in some fields? Are women choosing smaller-budget films, or are they being pushed in that particular direction? If preexisting discrimination influences the “choices” researchers observe, then the explained difference is overstated, and discrimination is understated.
I think both sides of the debate have merit. But in the end, the evidence is clear to us: Discrimination plays a big role in the film industry.