Meryl Streep has always been vocal about her struggle and fight against s*xism in Hollywood. The actress serves as a champion of women and has played numerous roles in films portraying strong and well-rounded characters.
The Oscar-winning star advocates gender and pay equality, women’s rights to education and suffrage, and level positions in high posts. In fact, she has talked about her campaigns in many interviews.
Meryl Streep On Gender Inequality And The Language Of Men And Women
Meryl Streep was joined by Bradley Whitford, Bob Odenkirk, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Ann Hornaday in a discussion about the 2017 film The Post. The actress played former Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham, and in the middle of the interview, she talked about gender inequality at work and how there are more men than women in positions.
“But part of this whole conversation is that these are issues with which every woman is aware. We are all aware of it, and all men are not aware. So, this is—it’s hard to have the whole thing. And the fact of that phalanx of faces that is so not diverse, it feels weird to me, looking at it now.”
She went on to expound on the idea that women have learned the language of men through years of adapting and adjusting, but men never really spoke the linguistics of women.
“It’s like women have learned the language of men, have lived in the house of men, all their lives. We can speak it. You know how when you learn a language, you learn French, you learn Spanish, it doesn’t really—it isn’t your language until you dream in it. And the only way to dream in it is to speak it, and women speak men. But men don’t speak women. They don’t dream in it.”
Streep’s response was indeed a nudge to the long-enduring struggle of women not only in the film industry but in any workplace. It is evident in the pay disparity, the number of men versus women employed in a company, and the unending stories of harassment and abuse.
Meryl Streep Has An Idea How To Fight S*xism
In her conversation with TimeOut, Meryl Streep suggested how to battle s*xism in the workplace. She proposed that men should be aware of their surroundings and notice the lack of diversity inside the room.
“Men should look at the world as if something is wrong when their voices predominate. They should feel it. People at agencies and studios, including the parent boards, might look around the table at the decision-making level and feel something is wrong if half their participants are not women. Because our tastes are different, what we value is different.”
Indeed, if the members of the group are not diverse, then the decisions will always end up in prejudice and will lean more towards the benefits of men. In line with this, Streep claims: “I am a humanist, I am for nice easy balance,” when asked if she is a feminist.
