Salon.com: It seems like a good time to be a woman on TV. While the film industry has been routinely criticized over the past year for its gender pay gap—in which male actors far outearn their female costars—and systemic racial bias, the small screen is flourishing precisely because of its surfeit of female leads and show-runners and actors of color. But if 2015 marked TV’s Golden Era of Diversity—with the successes of “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Empire” showing the way—its glory days may not be as flaxen as we’d like to think.
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When the X-Files reboot premiered this past week, about 15 million people watched it. 15 million people tuned in to see Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny back at it again, as equals, as a team. So then, one must wondered, why are they not payed like a team? Why are they payed like a hero and his sidekick? As the article states, in the original show's filming, Anderson was made to stand a few feet behind Duchovny, so as not to overshadow him. Even though she can stand with him physically, monetarily she can't hold a candle. The few women, such as Vergara and Cuoco, that the article discusses as being well-paid, are well-paid because they do tons of gigs, sponsorships, and other things that a more dignified star like Anderson shouldn't have to do to prove herself to the producers. The most shocking statistic of the article is the idea that the wage gap between men and women on TV is even larger than the gap in the real working world, as women work just as hard, and arguably have more competition in the TV world. The wage gap shouldn't exist in any profession, but when a man and woman stand side by side on a camera, both creating a character, both reciting a script, why should one be paid 30% more?
"People Too"
Forget your tokens
And all your toss-outs
F*** the bones you throw
No amount of garnish
Hides the truth from those who know
I've lived my life unlearning
All that I was made to be
That I am a woman is to you
The fault of none but me
My fault when I'm not strong enough
Though no one ever taught me
My fault when I'm not paid as much
Since no one ever bought me
How am I meant to stand as one
Alongside the likes of you
When in your eyes you are all people
But I'm just "people too"
A side note:
This is something I've been thinking about lately. The focus of feminism seems to have shifted in recent years from teaching men that "women are people too" to simply teaching anyone who will listen that "women are people." Not "people TOO," just "people." Plain and simple. Human beings like any other. One of the stark examples of an institution which seems to still be having trouble grasping that is Hollywood, and this article reconfirms my heartache. Screw "too." I am not something to be sprinkled in to please your statistics. I am not a side order. Treat women like people and maybe we'll start to treat you like you're half as generous as you think you are. And to the few men in the world who do understand this, yes I know you exist. But don't expect me to send you a thank you note. I'm looking at you, straight white male Hollywood execs. I wonder if you can feel my lungs burning as you pat yourselves on the back.
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