It’s well known that women rarely receive equal pay in any industry. The gender pay gap is something that we need to do better in the world to overcome. For instance, in 2021, in the United States, the census bureau reported that full-time, year-round working women earned 84% of what their male counterparts earned, on average.
It’s something that we need to draw more attention to and something that needs to be fixed.
At the SXSW festival, Priyanka Chopra Jonas was speaking with Amazon Studios’ Jennifer Salke, about her upcoming series, Citadel, and spoke about how it was the first time in her career that she’s received the same pay as her male counterpart.
“I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for now 22 years, and I have done about almost 70-plus features and two TV shows,” Priyanka shared on stage, via THR. “But when I did Citadel, it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity.”
She continued, “I’m laughing about this, but it’s kind of nuts. I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less. But the ease in which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you are co-leads, that’s just fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair.’ And I wonder: Did that happen because there are very few female decision-makers in Hollywood? Would that have been a different conversation if a woman didn’t make that decision? Those are not conversations that happened very easily.”
It makes us want to watch Citadel more, because of this. If you aren’t familiar with the series, “Eight years ago, Citadel fell. The independent global spy agency—tasked to uphold the safety and security of all people—was destroyed by operatives of Manticore, a powerful syndicate manipulating the world from the shadows. With Citadel’s fall, elite agents Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives. They’ve remained hidden ever since, building new lives under new identities, unaware of their pasts. Until one night, when Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who desperately needs his help to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order. Mason seeks out his former partner, Nadia, and the two spies embark on a mission that takes them around the world in an effort to stop Manticore, all while contending with a relationship built on secrets, lies, and a dangerous-yet-undying love.”
Citadel, which has an all star cast including Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville, Osy Ikhile, Ashleigh Cummings, Roland Møller, Caoilinn Springall, and premieres on Friday, April 28, with two episodes, followed by a new episode released weekly every Friday through May 26.
