Robin Wright Star Of ‘House Of Cards’ Calls Out Gender Pay Gap, Gives Voice To The Poor

Robin Wright demanded equal pay for equal work this week and got it. The Huffington Post calculated Robin’s male co-star Keven Spacey earns $500,000 for each episode of House of Cards, while Robin only gets around $420,000 per episode.

“I was like, ‘I want to be paid the same as Kevin.’ “I was looking at statistics and Claire Underwood’s character was more popular than [Frank’s] for a period of time. So I capitalized on that moment. I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public,’ and they did.”

Robin Wright is speaking up about equal pay even though she did get her raise. She is going public to help other women. Robin probably doesn’t need the money. It is about the principle. A woman is worth the same as a man. Most American families could live for 10 or 15 years on even one of Wright’s paychecks, but it is important that Robin spoke out against the gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap does make a huge difference in the quality of life for a lot to women and their children. Robin can use her voice and influence to speak up for those women who are trying to live off a tiny fraction of what she makes. In the U.S., one in four children live in poverty, and the gender pay gap is a big part of that problem.

Robin Wright is also using her voice to end the ravaging of the Congo’s resources. While the Congo is rich in minerals its people live in poverty. Huge corporations are taking advantage of desperately needy people and underfunded governments. International corporations are buying mineral rights at fire-sale prices.

Wright produced and narrated a new documentary called When Elephants Fight. The film will be part of a larger campaign under the banner #StandWithCongo.

“I felt a personal responsibility to step up, take action, create a voice,”

According to its website, #StandWithCongo sheds light on the problems related to Cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the Guardian, companies like Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Vodafone need cobalt to make rechargeable battery packs for cell phones and computers. Cobalt mines are dangerous places. Children as young as 7 work in cobalt mines owned by wealthy businessmen who have set up businesses in the British Virgin Islands. The details were released in the infamous Panama Papers.

“We are using these devices all day, every day, for our convenience and it’s basically perpetuating a war. I find it unacceptable that as consumers we allow this to go on.”

The Congo is in a state of perpetual war and conflict, rape and abuse of women is common, and one in seven children dies before the age of 5. Poverty is overwhelming and living conditions frightful. To think that billionaires are profiteering off the misery of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo is obviously immoral, and yet it continues. Exploitation of resources owned by people who cannot appraise the value of minerals beneath their feet is sad. The people starve while selling off billions in resources for pennies.

Robin Wright asked a group of abused women in the Congo what she could do to help them. Their response was unanimous according to Wright’s interview with the Guardian.

“They all said the same thing: ‘Can you be our voice? We don’t have a voice here.’ That’s when we decided to amplify that voice for them, back in America.”

Robin Wright is giving her voice to women who have none. Whether it is the underpaid American woman or the residents of war-torn Congo, Robin is letting people know that there are people who need help.

Robin Wright is raising awareness on issues related to poverty.

[Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images]