Even the Queen Suffers Gender Pay Gap!3 min read

Earlier this month it came out that a controversial gender pay disparity has affected one of Britain’s favourite shows, “The Crown”.

The historical drama about the British Royal family, produced by Left Bank Pictures has had huge success all over the United Kingdom, with an average of 1.3 million viewers as Nielson Data states.

Claire Foy aka Queen Elizabeth has conquered the heart of British people, but, has she conquered the adequate pay-cheque for her role?

Apparently even though she played the main role in Britain’s most beloved TV series, Claire Foy was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip and therefore was just a supporting role.

After the news broke out the production company responded with an apology:

“Claire and Matt are incredibly gifted actors who, along with the wider cast on The Crown have worked tirelessly to bring our characters to life with compassion and integrity.”

“As the producers of The Crown, we at left Bank Pictures are responsible for budget and salaries: the actors are not aware of who gets what, and cannot be held responsible for the pay of their colleagues.”

They continued:

“We understand and appreciate the conversation which is rightly being played out across society and we are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias, and for a rebalancing of the industry’s treatment of women, both those in front of the camera and for those behind the scenes.”

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that these issues are tackled, and as a leading production company we want to make our contribution to the debate.”

The producers also revealed the reason of the pay gap putting it down to the fact that Matt Smith, at the time, was more famous than Claire Foy.

Jared Harris, who played King George VI in the show, told Digital Spy:

“That’s a function of the fact that, at the time when they made the deal, Matt Smith would have had a larger profile around the world.”

“but they could’ve at a point, paid her as much as him. That was their choice. And, right now, they’re probably wishing they did.”

“I think it’s an embarrassment for Left Bank Pictures.”

He also said:

“I understand they made an apology but, you know, an apology and a check would be more welcome. She worked longer hours. Her performance is a huge reason why this thing is going to have season three, four, five and six. Send her a pay-check and bring her pay up to parity.”

Claire Foy commented on the dispute:

“I’m surprised because I’m at the centre of it, and anything that I’m at the

centre of like that it’s a bit odd. But I know that Matt feels the same I do, that it’s so odd to find yourself at the centre that you didn’t particularly ask for.”

Gender pay-gap is not new to the acting world, if we consider Hollywood for example, during the year 2015 the highest paid actress, Jennifer Lawrence earned $52 million; $28 million less than the highest paid actor Robert Downey Jr. who earned $80 million.

Pay-gap also extends to all the fields, and its discrimination is based not only on the gender but also on the age and cultural background of the workers.

In the UK a female manager usually earns around £12k less than her male counterpart.

One good place to be a woman is definitely Iceland, which is the first country in the world to legally enforce equal pay.