‘Shameless’ Star Emmy Rossum & ‘House Of Cards’ Star Robin Wright On Equal Pay For Women In Hollywood

House of Cards star Robin Wright and Shameless star Emmy Rossum are just two of the latest actresses to shine a light on the struggle for equal pay rights for women in Hollywood. Is it really that challenging for women in Hollywood to get the same pay as men? Unfortunately, Emmy and Robin claim it is.

Those who watch the Netflix hit series House of Cards know Robin Wright plays the role of Claire Underwood and co-stars with Kevin Spacey. According to Yahoo Style, Wright revealed during a recent interview that she and Spacey spent a lot of time laughing while they were on set together. Given the fact that Kevin and Robin play characters of equal importance on the House of Cards one would assume the two get the same wages for their work. Robin has revealed this assumption is wrong.

“I was told that I was getting equal pay and I believed them, and I found out recently that it’s not true… so that’s something to investigate.”

According to Yahoo Style, the House of Cards star hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue surrounding equal pay rights for women in Hollywood. The issue is that a lot of actresses are being outright lied to. For example, Robin claims to have been told she was receiving the same pay as Spacey. Robin claims to have only recently found out what she was told about their pay was a lie.

Shameless star Emmy Rossum recently dealt with a similar issue with equal pay for women in Hollywood. Season 7 of Shameless had concluded, and the production company was in the process of renewing Season 8. The problem: Emmy Rossum found out she was not making the same amount of money as her co-star William H. Macy. Initially, one could have argued Macy made more money because he had more experience and awards than Emmy. As the series progressed, however, Emmy’s character was just as important and powerful as Macy’s.

Shameless fans were forced to wait to see if the series would be renewed for Season 8 and if Emmy’s character, Fiona, would still be part of the show. Fortunately, according to Vogue, Emmy was able to work out equal pay to her male co-stars. Shameless fans rejoiced, and one can only assume the production company decided the series would lose too much of its fanbase if it had continued on to Season 8 without Emmy Rossum as Fiona.

It is worth noting while House of Cards star Robin Wright and Shameless star Emmy Rossum are the latest actresses to shine the light on the issue of equal pay for women in Hollywood, they are not the only actresses to reveal this problem. According to CNN, Emma Stone also spoke up about the issue last year. Stone noted that while she’s been lucky enough to have equal pay to male co-stars, she knows that is not what happens to most women in Hollywood.

As Time explains, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence has always been very vocal about the gender pay gap when it comes to actors and actresses. Avengers star Robert Downey Jr. is considered to be one of the highest paid men in Hollywood. Both Downey and Lawrence have starred in films that have flopped as well as films that have been successful.

Robert Downey Jr. was reported to have received $40 million as his pay for the latest installment of The Avengers film. Jennifer Lawrence, on the other hand, was paid $15 million as her total pay for the last third and fourth installment of The Hunger Games. This is a noteworthy comparison because both franchises have brought in roughly the same amount of money worldwide. So, Downey received $40 million as pay for a movie that was making as much as a movie Lawrence received roughly $7.5 million.

Time notes that Jennifer Lawrence is the star of The Hunger Games. Downey, by comparison, shares the screen in The Avengers as one of five stars. This begs the question: Why is he receiving so much more money? Is it really just because he is a male in Hollywood and she is a woman?

While it appears as if Shameless star Emmy Rossum was able to fight her way to equal pay that matched her male co-star, House of Cards star Robin Wright claims to still be fighting for equal pay as a woman in Hollywood.

Rose Byrne just made a brilliant point about Hollywood's gender pay gap: https://t.co/AyRz2S8TiI pic.twitter.com/5s72QfDJtT

— Glamour (@glamourmag) May 19, 2017

What are your thoughts on the gender pay gap in Hollywood? Do you think women in Hollywood should fight harder for equal pay? Are you relieved to know women such as Emmy Rossum, Robin Wright, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emma Stone are willing to speak up about this issue? Share your thoughts with us in the comment’s section found down below.

[Featured Images by Arthur Mola & Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Images]