Actress Jennifer Lawrence wrote about earning less than her male colleagues on Lena Dunham’s site, Lenny.
In her essay titled Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co‑Stars?, she wrote: “I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable!”
After Sony Pictures’ internal computer system was hacked last November, Lawrence found how much less she was earning than her male co-stars and said, “I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early.”
Lawrence admitted, “I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.'”
“At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being difficult or spoiled.”
She noted the difference in the way women are treated when they offer their opinions:
“A few weeks ago at work, I spoke my mind and gave my opinion in a clear and no-bullshit way; no aggression, just blunt. The man I was working with (actually, he was working for me) said, ‘Whoa! We’re all on the same team here!’ As if I was yelling at him. I was so shocked because nothing that I said was personal, offensive or, to be honest, wrong. All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive.”
Lawrence ended her essay by mentioning the Sony hack revealed a producer referring to an actress as a “spoiled brat” and said, “For some reason, I just can’t picture someone saying that about a man.”
Stanford research suggests that in the business world, women who are aggressive, confident and assertive but who can turn these traits on and off, depending on the social circumstances, get more promotions than either men or women.
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