A free-market women’s group is calling Oscar winner Patricia Arquette out for what it calls “feel good political statements based on faulty facts” after she called for equal pay and equal rights for women.
“Arquette should know we already have equal rights for women-including laws that protect women against wage discrimination,” Independent Women’s Forum managing director Carrie Lukas said Monday. “The statistical difference between men and women’s average earnings isn’t driven by sexism, but rather primarily is a results of men and women making very different choices about how to spend their time.”
Sunday night at the Oscars, while accepting her award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Boyhood,” Arquette delivered a speech calling for pay equity and equal rights.
“It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America,” Arquette said.
Her speech was met with wild applause on Twitter from left-leaning politicos and celebrities in the audience such as Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez.
The Independent Women’s Forum, however, noted that while Arquette’s pay equity argument is flawed, sexism still exists, particularly in Hollywood.
“This doesn’t mean sexism doesn’t exist — it certainly is alive and well in liberal Hollywood — but women shouldn’t fall for the tired line that they are doomed to earn less than men because of our society is inherently sexist,” Lukas said.
The group Monday re-released a video called “Straight Talk About the Wage Gap” in response to Arquette.
“Women can write their own story by carefully considering their options and the long-term impact of the choices they make about education, careers, specialities and the time they take out of the workplace,” Lukas said.
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