“Wonder Woman” Director Patty Jenkins is opening up on her personal experience with gender wage gap, and how gender discrimination in the workplace has affected her career in Hollywood.
The Warner Brothers and DC Comics director first rose to fame after directing Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning performance in the 2003 independent film, “Monster.”
After directing the global box office success “Wonder Woman” in 2017, Jenkins claimed that she was given significantly less money compared to her male counterparts when offered the director position for the movie’s sequel.
"It was easy to find that all of the men, they made an independent film and then they made a first [superhero] movie, they got paid seven times more than me for the first superhero movie," Jenkins said on the December 16 episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast. "So it was an easy fight to say this can't be, and it really can't be on 'Wonder Woman.'"
"It's interesting as someone who never made any profit in my career up until 'Wonder Woman,' that I was always at peace with it," she said. "I was like, 'Hey I get it.' But now I was like, 'Listen, I never made any money in my career because you always had the leverage and I didn't,' but now the shoe is on the other foot so it's time to turn the tables."
Jenkins admitted that the lack of compensation almost caused her to leave the franchise.
"I started to walk away, I was going to walk away," she said. "I even said I'd be happy to go to another studio and make a quarter as much because it's not a sequel on principle. No problem."
The famous director has continued to persue opportunities in show-biz.
Jenkins has since gone on to become the highest-paid female director in history after signing a deal worth between $7 million to $9 million.
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