Meryl Streep has revealed that she received only five responses following her letter to all 535 members of the US congress calling for the introduction of new equality laws.
The actress told an audience at the Telluride film festival that she was virtually ignored by the 435 representatives and 100 senators. Streep’s film Suffragette was screened at Telluride over the weekend.
“I sent them each a book called Equal Means Equal by Jessica Neuwirth,” said Streep. “It’s about the revival of the attempt to get an ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) that would codify in law that you can’t discriminate against women. I got five answers.”
The actress’s letter contained the following plea: ‘I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the equal rights amendment.’
Streep pointed out that a mere one per cent of movies were directed by women at present. “It has to do with our discomfort with women in leadership,” she said.
The actress recalled her mother asking her father for money as a child, even though her mother had a job as a commercial artist. “I remember those conversations, hearing them upstairs, the back and forth. I remember thinking, ‘I will never have to ask anybody for money. I will have my own money.’”
Suffragette stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Romola Garai, Anne-Marie Duff, Natalie Press, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson. The film is based on a screenplay by Abi Morgan, writer of Shame and The Iron Lady.
