Although I have not seen the movie Boyhood which took twelve years to complete, I have followed a little of the actress who played the mom and also won the Supporting Actress Oscar, Patricia Arquette. She is from an acting dynasty. Grandfather, Cliff Arquette (Charlie Weaver) was best known to me as a regular on Hollywood Squares. Dad, Lewis Arquette, played J. D. Pickett for many years on The Waltons. Her brother is actor, David Arquette and a sister, Rosanna Arquette.
I always enjoyed Patricia's role on the program Medium and I am looking forward to her new role in CSI Cyber. In any interview I have ever seen of her she always seems to be a very soft-spoken woman. I am sure when you win the top honor of Academy Award and you have that short window spotlight on you many struggle with the thank yous to family, agents and everyone you ever have worked with. She did all that and then some in my book. After her thanks to all the really important people in her life, she chose to end with this.
"To every woman who gave birth, to every tax payer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and rights for women in the United States of America".
Of course social media exploded after her speech. Some positive and of course the naysayers were also quick to add their two cents worth. The first that popped up for me was a piece on Fox News by news contributor and actress Stacy Dash (ironic that she played in the movie Clueless) and that she was appalled at Arquette's speech. Dash insinuated that Arquette needed to "do her history" because in 1963 President Kennedy passed an equal pay wall that is still in effect. I think if I hear this 1963 quote again in 2015 I will choke.
Yes, it was passed but what people both men and women still seem to ignore is it is outdated, laws are broken each and every day. Yes, the National Partnership for Women and Families, according to a recent study (more recent than the 60's or the last census) women make on average 78 cents for every dollar paid to men amounting to a yearly wage gap of almost $11,000 per year.
The next day after the Oscar's I posted my displeasure about the Stacey Dash comment. To my surprise a dialog/debate started about men and women and equality. I realize men and women are different. We process things differently, we approach things differently. We work differently. But, in the end if we tackle a task and come out with a successful result shouldn't we get paid the same?? I realize today equality should also include gender, race, religion etc. Society seems to be on super fast forward and our laws and thinking sometimes stays stuck about 10 or more years behind.
Today the burn your bra group and the sports bra groups seem to be in completely different universes. As I said in my Facebook post: "I have a son and daughter and two granddaughters and two grandsons. I would hope that by the time they go into the workforce that they can say, "ERA oh yes I remember my grandma talking about it and how hard it was to get equality, but we have it NOW".
Facebook has many pages if you are interested in learning more about the causes:
The Alice Paul Institute-located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey helps to educate the public especially young girls about equality.
ERA Now-is a advocacy community that shares information regularly about equality
ERA Once and For All-based in Newport Beach, CA is another source of great information on equality
I always like to share a story about equality that took place in 1982. I was a young, civil servant that volunteered to help with our office relocation across town. Single, unmarried and weekends free I chose to spend a Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the office. A young, handsome man from a state contract authorized moving and relocation company and about 25+ young men made the move happen. This young, ambitious woman flitted here and there for hours on end making sure boxes, furnishings and records got securely on the truck and sent over to the new facility. I would enter and exit the door many times. Each time I did this I would see most of these same young men, taking smoke breaks, getting refreshments and standing around. The young, handsome man finally after many long hours of work, made this statement "WOW you work harder than most of the men I have here today, for a little thing you work hard".
Today, 33 years later I still work with that man 24/7 365 days a year. I may not work as fast or as hard as that little thing I used to be but the determination will be with me until the end.
Thank you the Patricia Arquette's of the world for speaking from the heart and believing it can and will happen someday soon.
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