Kate Winslet addresses the gender pay gap issue

She clarified her stance on the gender pay gap debate at a Bafta event, A Life In Pictures, in central London, and criticised the questions asked about the issue by journalists on red carpets.

Actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Sharon Stone have spoken out on the subject but Kate has previously said that conversations surrounding the inequality were “uncomfortable and vulgar”.

She said tonight: “The gender pay gap thing. Jennifer Lawrence is amazing for speaking up and I think that anyone in this industry, particularly women, if there’s something strongly that they feel isn’t working for them or if they’re being discriminated against in any way, shape or form, it’s very, very important to speak up and so I fully applaud that.

“What I have a problem with is that there’s a separate thing that has started happening is that the lid has been somewhat lifted for journalists, and so journalists on red carpets will now say, ‘So how do you feel about the gender pay gap?’.

“‘What? What’s the specific question?’. ‘Well, do you know that you got paid less or more than Michael Fassbender?’.

“That question? That to me is not very nice. I’m not going to have that conversation with a friend or even a family member, let alone in public.

“And so what’s happened as a result of these big very important discussions is that we’re then subjected to a particular line of questioning that being a Brit strikes me as being a little bit vulgar.”

She said: “Why would I stand on a red carpet and talk about how much I get paid?”