Forbes has recently released its lists of this year’s highest paid actors and actresses, and we were glad to see that Emma Stone came out on top — of her respective gender category, that is. When compared to her male counterparts, Stone’s salary — the top female earnings this year — comes in at #15.
Forbes’ breakdown makes it crystal clear: “A gender pay gap persists in Hollywood, even among elite earners.” Mark Wahlberg topped the list of highest-paid actors with a sum of $68 million this year. That’s “more than 2.5 times Stone’s $26 million pretax take-home.” Not only that, but Stone also comes just behind “La La Land” co-star Ryan Gosling’s $29 million. Note that Gosling isn’t even in his category’s top ten — he’s #14.
Discrepancies persist across the board. The #10 actor, Akshay Kumar, made nearly $10 million more than Stone. He also beat #10 actress Amy Adams by over $23 million. In fact, “the top 10 actors banked a cumulative $488.5 million — nearly three times the $172.5 million combined total of the 10 top-earning women.” It should also be noted that women of color are completely absent from these lists.
This discrepancy is exacerbated on a constant basis because male actors are valued more than female actors. Men have value. Women, not so much. And the list of women who have value is quite short.
And remember, women like Jennifer Aniston — who makes this list on a consistent basis — earn most of their money from outside endorsements as opposed to films. She hasn’t been in a film in 2017, and her 2016 films included the ensemble “Office Christmas Party.” If she made her $25 million from that, she’s got the best agent ever.
The industry is completely reflective of how the pay gap — and its relation to both gender and race — operates throughout society as a whole. According to the Pew Research Center, women continue to earn roughly 83 percent of what their male counterparts take home on both a full- and part-time basis.
The rift between numbers becomes even more alarming when one considers race. “African American and Native American women earn 64 cents and 59 cents, respectively, for every dollar made by white man,” Pew reveals. “On average, Hispanic women earn 56 cents to a white man’s dollar.”
More and more actresses have begun to speak out against the pay gap. For instance, television actress Yvette Nicole Brown recently discussed her experience as a woman of color. List-topper Emma Stone herself has also been vocal about her pay experience in relation to her male co-stars’.
It’s true that the more dialogue increases around the problem, the harder it will be to ignore. But all in all, the solution is very simple: Pay women the same as men.
Here are 2017’s highest-earning actors and actresses, as listed by Forbes:
1. Mark Wahlberg, $68 million
2. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, $65 million
3. Vin Diesel, $54.5 million
4. Adam Sandler, $50.5 million
5. Jackie Chan, $49 million
6. Robert Downey, Jr., $48 million
7. Tom Cruise, $43 million
8. Shah Rukh Khan, $38 million
9. Salman Khan, $37 million
10. Akshay Kumar, $35.5 million
11. Chris Hemsworth, $31.5 million
12. Tom Hanks, $31 million
13. Samuel L. Jackson, $30.5 million
14. Ryan Gosling, $29 million
15. Emma Stone, $26 million
16. Jennifer Aniston, $25.5 million
17. Jennifer Lawrence, $24 million
18. Ryan Reynolds, $21.5 million
19. Matt Damon, $21 million
20. Jeremy Renner, $19 million
21. Chris Evans, $18 million
21. Melissa McCarthy, $18 million
23. Chris Pratt, $17 million
24. Mila Kunis, $15.5 million
25. Emma Watson, $14 million
25. Emma Watson, $14 million
27. Mark Ruffalo, $13 million
28. Cate Blanchett, $12 million
29. Julia Roberts, $12 million
30. Amy Adams, $11.5 million
