Viola Davis tells Hollywood 'pay me what I'm worth'

As Time's Up battles for women's equal pay, advocates can't ignore that the wage gap is even more glaring for women of color. Viola Davis reiterated this on Wednesday in a conversation with Women in the World CEO Tina Brown.

"We get probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets," Davis said regarding actresses of color. "And I'm number one on the call sheet."

Davis was speaking to the fact that she's one of the most prolific actresses – black or otherwise – of her time. She has an Emmy, an Oscar, and a Tony; when she's in a movie, she's one of the stars, and a star shouldn't be scrabbling for her salary.

“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver," she said, citing prominent white actresses and their training and education. "They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them. Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it."

“People say, ‘You’re a black Meryl Streep … We love you. There is no one like you,” Davis recalled. “OK, then if there’s no one like me, you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth.”

Davis spoke candidly in a series of videos from the event, including about her childhood growing up in poverty. She joins peers like Octavia Spencer who have pushed for gender equality and gender parity to not overlook women of color. Hollywood's cultural overhaul will require much introspection, and Davis' voice is crucial in that conversation.