Patricia Arquette has issued a rallying cry to fight for women’s rights in this week’s Big Issue magazine following the abortion row that has broken out in the US following Alabama’s ban.
The acting stalwart, 51, reveals in her Letter to my Younger Self that her Best Supporting Actress victory at the 2015 Oscars for her part in Boyhood was the ideal platform for her to speak up for equal pay for women.
And her battle for women’s rights has not ended there as the Toy Story 4 actor insists that the recent developments in Alabama show just how far the battle for equality has to go.
“Never in a million years did I expect to win an Academy Award, or any award,” Arquette told The Big Issue. “Honestly, I think the reason that I won the Oscar was so that I could make that speech [arguing for equal pay for women].
“I think we are seeing change, but it is slow coming. We’re watching women’s rights, as far as abortion, get rolled back incredibly quickly in America. We are seeing, in plain sight, a big struggle between women’s rights and women’s equality and the resistance to that. It’s being played out right in front of us.
“For many years, it was very subterranean. It was still happening but everyone was acting like everything was fine. Now it’s right in your face and you’re having to look at it. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We have to keep fighting.”
