Keira Knightley has become the latest celebrity to lend her name to the feminist cause by calling out tech firms like Google for not having enough female employees.
While promoting her new film, The Imitation Game at a fancy luncheon at the Four Seasons on Monday the British actor drew parallels between her real-life character, Bletchley Park code-breaker Joan Clarke who help scientist Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, crack the Nazis’ Enigma code.
According to Time, Knightley said her Blectchley was “trying to break that glass ceiling . . . trying to get a place at the table,” but “what isn’t actually covered [in the film] is that when [Clarke] did actually get there . . . she was getting paid a fraction of what the men were paid.”
The 29-year-old added, “I was completely bowled away by the fact that . . . we’re dealing with the 1940s, and, still, the center of the feminist argument today is, ‘a place at the table and equal pay.’ How depressing it is, it’s still the same.”
Knightley also said she had recently met Google founder, Sergey Brin while at a screening of the film organised by venture capitalist Yuri Milner at his Silicon Valley mansion.
She said Brin had told her, “Only 20 per cent of the employees at Google are women. And you go, ‘Yep, there’s a problem.'”
Keira’s dig at male dominated tech companies echo the same fight women have been struggling with for generations.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, the feminist revolution seemed unstoppable and after a few decades of seeming unpopularity there has been a welcome surge of young notable women sticking their necks out for the sisterhood.
Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson, Beyoncé, Ellen Page and Beyoncé have all spoken out on the issue encouraging next generation make a real impact on gender equality.
Keira’s dig at male dominated tech companies echo the same fight women have been struggling with for decades.
Juno star Ellen Page had some choice words about feminism during an interview with The Guardian. “I don’t know why people are so reluctant to say they’re feminists. Maybe some women just don’t care. But how could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?” said the tiny actor. “Feminism always gets associated with being a radical movement – good. It should be. A lot of what the radical feminists [in the 1970s] were saying, I don’t disagree with it.”
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When Emma Watson delivered her #heforshe speech at the UN this year and her words launched a thousand essays. While Watson wasn’t saying anything feminists haven’t already said for more than 40 years her words have possibly provided the gateway for a whole new generation of women to explore what it means to be a feminist. “You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s a good question and trust me I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.” Watson continued, “I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called “bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not… I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.”
Jennifer Lawrence want’s the sisterhood to unite. Earlier this year at a Q&A with Yahoo the actor had some choice words for the media’s impact on women. “We see this airbrushed perfect model … but you just have to look past it. … We [need to] stop treating each other like that, stop calling each other fat and stop with these unrealistic expectations for women. It’s disappointing that the media keeps it alive and fuels that fire.”
Girls creator Lena Dunham told Interview magazine, “It is really funny how even cool chicks are sort of like, ‘Our mums covered that feminism thing and now we’re living in a post-that world,’ when that just isn’t true.”
Taylor Swift is also openly embracing feminism. In an August interview with the Guardian, Swift said: “As a teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities. What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means.”
Actor Mindy Kaling gave a sharp critique on how she feels the world perceives women in Parade magazine. “I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?”
Having just become a new mum to baby daughter Charlotte it’s no surprise that Chelsea Clinton has strong views on feminism: “Of course [I’m a feminist]. And everyone I know is a feminist,” Clinton to ABC News reporter Lynn Sherr.
Beyoncé spoke out about the power of equal pay in the HBO documentary Life is but a Dream: “Why do we have to take a backseat [to men]? … Let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.”
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