Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington and more stars have joined the LeanIn.Org #20PercentCounts campaign to promote Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, April 4. Today, women are on average paid 20 percent less than men in the United States.
“Equal pay is essential to the goal of gender equality,” said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org. “This issue speaks to how we value women’s labor, knowledge, time, training and so much more. In short, it’s about women’s worth. There’s nothing more fundamental than that.”
Lawrence, 26, also spoke out about inequality. “Happy equal pay day. Where hopefully soon we will be celebrating women being paid the same as men for the same work,” she wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday. “Women deserve better, families deserve better. Don’t stop talking about this until people of any sex or any race are treated with fairness and equality.” In October 2015, the Oscar winner revealed that her male American Hustle costars (Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner) earned 9 percent of the profits compared to her 7 percent.
Washington, 40, gave even more statistics about the wage gap via Twitter. “#20PercentCounts And did u know that Black women are actually paid 37% less & Latina women are paid 46% less than white men?!” the Scandal star wrote. “#EqualPayDay.”
In honor of the #20PercentCounts launch, 25 U.S. businesses have teamed up with LeanIn.Org by offering 20 percent discounts and special offers.
Read more celeb reactions from Reese Witherspoon, Amy Schumer and more below:
#20PercentCounts
And did u know that Black women are actually paid 37% less & Latina women are paid 46% less than white men?! #EqualPayDay pic.twitter.com/nOfN2GORiF— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) April 4, 2017
Women are still paid 20% less than men in the US—We need to speak up & work towards closing this gender gap! #20PercentCounts #EqualPayDay https://t.co/xbIZLUFIkW
— Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) April 4, 2017
See what life is like with 20% less. Seem crazy? So is the gender pay gap. #20PercentCounts https://t.co/nTWbF24W9y
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) April 4, 2017