After delivering an impassioned speech calling for wage equality that caused the likes of Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez to jump to their feet with applause, best supporting actress winner Patricia Arquette expanded on her comments backstage at the Academy Awards.
Asked if she was aware of Streep’s response to her speech, Arquette laughed and said no. “But I heard about it and I hugged her afterwards.”
She continued on to say there aren’t equal rights for women in America, because the Constitution was written for men. “The truth is, even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America, right under the surface there are huge issues that really do affect women. And it’s time for all the men who love women, and gay people, and others, to fight for us now.”
She continued, “Equal means equal. The older women get, the less money they make,” Arquette said. “It’s inexcusable we go around the world talking about equal rights for women in other countries.
When asked how she felt about former Sony head Amy Pascal’s recent remarks on wage disparity – in short, that it was up to women to ask for more, Arquette said, “I think we need federal laws that are comprehensive. In different states, they have altogether thrown out the Fairness Voting act. People think we have equal rights. We won’t until we pass a Constitutional amendment in the United States of American where we pass the Era once and for all.”
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Arquette also got a laugh by saying she didn’t have time to get a manicure today, which meant she wouldn’t be prepared for “the dreaded mani-cam.” She was too busy working on her passion project, GiveLove.org, which does ecological sanitation work in the neediest communities around the world.
When people would ask about her dress she was happy to say it was made by her best friend since she was seven years old. “It’s like wearing love,” she said.
