Bryce Dallas Howard has said she was scared off from asking for more pay in the past because she was worried she would be replaced.
The Hollywood star, the daughter of film-maker Ron Howard, said she had previously caved during negotiations but has been inspired to change her stance by the Time’s Up movement against harassment and gender inequality.
She told Redbook magazine: “I’ve been (wimpy) about it in the past. I didn’t want people to think I wasn’t grateful for opportunities.
“I also get scared off by every threat during a negotiation. They’ll say, ‘We’ll just have to find someone else’, and I back off. You can’t do that.”
Howard, 37, whose films include The Village, The Help and Jurassic World, said the salaries paid to female actresses is “astronomically different” to what is paid to their male counterparts.
“I’m not a spender,” said the mother-of-two. “I live in a three-bedroom house — in fact, we just downsized. We have one family car, a Chevy Bolt.
“I know that we’re privileged, we don’t have to worry about paying our rent or our medical bills. But I wish people knew that this is what the life of most successful female celebrities is.
“What we get paid is totally, completely, astronomically different than what male celebrities get paid.
“And for women of colour, it’s a hundred times worse.”
Howard said “even my dad has been shocked at how expensive it is to be a woman in the industry”.
“You’re told that it’s important to have a manager as well as an agent, and for a guy that’s not as important,” she said.
“That’s 20% out of your paycheck rather than 10%.”