Actress Elisabeth Moss has said she is “100% positive” she has been paid less than her male co-stars during her career.
The former Mad Men star, best known for her role as secretary-turned-advertising creative Peggy Olson, said she had been treated with “shocking” sexism in Hollywood.
She said: “I have always felt women’s rights were very important, it always felt close to my heart.”
“I got the part on Mad Men and it was a job, it’s not like I made a conscious choice, but then through that process and playing that character I found my feminism and I found what it means to be a feminist and I got to explore it and it became more and more important to me as I went on.
“My one big thing is women don’t make as much as men. I’m sure, I know, I’m 100% positive I’ve been a victim of that.”
She added: “The other thing I have experienced is in pitching something that is female led. I have been told something is too female by executives.
“It was everything, the fact it was a female lead, a female protagonist, was led by a woman, made it too female, which I was shocked by. This was recent, in the last couple of years, and it’s shocking to me to hear that, that is almost illegal to say.
“It wasn’t said to my face, I would dare a male executive to say that to my face now.”
Elisabeth has recently won praise for her performance in the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, in which women have been stripped of their rights, and will soon be seen in the second series of Top Of The Lake.
She said the sexism did not deter her, adding: “We did fine, we are making it, just not with those people who thought it was too female.”
She also clarified that she believes The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist text, after reportedly telling a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival that she considered it to be “a human story” rather than a feminist one.
She said: “If there was anything I said that led anyone to believe a I’m not a feminist and The Handmaid’s Tale is not a feminist work then obviously I didn’t say the right thing.
“It’s a many-fold subject but I think that for me it is not only a feminist work, there are many groups that are punished and much maligned in the show, it’s just not only feminist.”
“I’m not a politician, I’m not trained to talk about this shit, I’m a 34-year-old woman who is an actress who has ideas and opinions and I do my best to talk about them.
“It was an interesting learning experience and an interesting wake-up call, I didn’t know anyone gave a shit what I said.”
“The other wake up call is you can’t stand in the middle. I don’t stand in the middle in my personal life but I also don’t want to exclude people or force my opinions and my political agenda on other people.
“Now I don’t give a shit so much any more, that’s how I feel, so if people want to hear the truth then the truth is I do feel this way and it is my political agenda.”
The Handmaid’s Tale continues on Channel 4 on Sundays at 9pm. Top Of The Lake: China Girl will be shown later this summer on BBC Two.
