Making us proud on the female list were two Australian women. The eighth top earner on the actresses list was Margot Robbie, who reportedly earned $23.5 million. In her just-released Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) film, Margot took on the role as a producer in addition to playing the lead character, Harley Quinn.
The other Australian actress who made the list - taking out fourth place - was Nicole Kidman. Nicole’s roles as Celeste Wright in Big Little Lies and Gretchen Carlson in Bombshell contributed to her $34 million salary.
While it’s great news for team Aussie, it’s not so positive for females. The issue of a gender pay gap was glaringly obvious in Forbes' highest-paid list.
The cumulative total of the top 10 actors (almost $600 million) nearly doubled the pay of their female counterparts who made a total of $315 million. If the two lists were combined, Scarlett Johansson, who topped the female list with $56 million thanks to her high-paying gig as Marvel’s Black Widow, would only come in eighth place behind Adam Sandler at $57 million.
The only positive here is that the collective female total earnings are up 69% since last year.
A large part of the improvement has to do with seven of the top 10 highest-earning actresses producing their own projects. This move is helping create more female-centered and female-written stories.
This article originally appeared on InStyle Australia.
