Actress Emma Watson arrives at the Elle Style Awards in London, February 18, 2014. REUTERS/Paul Hackett (BRITAIN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) - RTX192QR
Don’t call Emma Watson a diva.
As the 25-year-old actress told Esquire magazine, she deserves to be paid the same as her male counterparts without being labeled demanding.
“We are not supposed to talk about money, because people will think you’re ‘difficult’ or a ‘diva.’ But there’s a willingness now to be like, ‘Fine. Call me a ‘diva,’ call me a ‘feminazi,’ call me ‘difficult,’ call me a ‘First World feminist,’ call me whatever you want, it’s not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing and make sure the right thing happens. Because it doesn’t just affect me,” she explained.
“Whether you are a woman on a tea plantation in Kenya, or a stockbroker on Wall Street, or a Hollywood actress, no one is being paid equally.”
Watson, who announced she’s taking a year off from acting to focus on feminism, also shared that despite her A-List stature, she too deals with her fair share of sexism.
“I’ve had my ass slapped as I’ve left a room. I’ve felt scared walking home. I’ve had people following me,” Watson continued. “I don’t talk about these experiences much, because coming from me they’ll sound like a huge deal and I don’t want this to be about me, but most women I know have experienced it and worse.”
Though Watson has hope for the future, she knows that men must be part of the solution.
“There’s no point in me going, ‘You all have to go away from having read this article and decide that you a re a feminist.’ That’s useless. The only thing that is going to make a difference is if men go away and speak to the women in their lives about what they are experiencing,” she added.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.
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