Michelle Williams advocates equal pay for women, women of colour at the Emmys

Michelle Williams bagged the Best Lead Actress for a Limited Series/Movie for her performance in Fosse/Verdon. Raising a very important issue of the pay gap, she gave an empowering acceptance speech at the Emmys.

She said she hopes more women will get an experience where they thank their employers on making their careers because and not in spite of their workplace. She hoped that it will be time and again repeated that women, especially women of colour, deserve equal pay.

Equal pay has been raised and talked about as one of the most pressing issues in the entertainment and media sectors. There is a wide pay gap between the male and female professionals in the entertainment industry and very few are strong enough to speak about it at a forum such as this.

Last year, it was revealed that Mark Wahlberg was paid significantly more than Michelle Williams for reshoots of their film All the Money in the World.

Wahlberg later made a $1.5m (£1.2m) donation in Williams' name to the #TimesUp fund, which helps sexual abuse and harassment victims with legal costs.

Here’s the full text of her speech:

"I see this as an acknowledgement of what is possible when a woman is trusted to discern her own needs, feels safe enough to voice them, and respected enough that they'll be heard," Williams said in her acceptance speech.

"When I asked for more dance classes, I heard yes. More voice lessons, yes. All these things, they required effort, and they cost more money, but my bosses never presumed to know better than I did. Because they understood when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value.”

"The next time a woman, and especially a woman of colour - because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart - tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her.” She proclaimed proudly.

"Believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing [her] to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it."

Twitterati, ranging from celebrities to watchers of her show, expressed solidarity through their tweets: