Kristen Stewart has given a passionate critique of Hollywood’s gender inequality, saying she is “so fucking angry”.
The actor is currently promoting her directorial debut The Chronology Of Water, which is set to be released in UK cinemas on February 6 next year, and she gave a spirited speech at Chanel’s 2025 Women’s Luncheon on Tuesday (November 4) in which she detailed the difficulty that female filmmakers still face.
People reported that Stewart said: “In a post-Me Too moment, it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due, that we might be allowed or even encouraged to express ourselves and our shared experiences, all of our experiences without filter.”
“But I can now attest to the bare-knuckle brawling that it takes every single frame. When the content is too dark, too taboo, when the frankness with which it serves up observations about experiences routinely experienced by women frequently provoke disgust and rejection.”
The Oscar-nominated star of Twilight, Personal Shopper and Spencer noted during her speech that she was “in a severe state of PMS today,” adding: “But I relish being able to say that my nerves are close to the surface of my skin and it is a great day for that.”
“So in my hormonally activated state, let’s get further into this. It’s awkward to talk about inequality for some people, and it’s more awkward when the nature of inequality is somewhat ephemeral. We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure it in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence is silencing. It’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. But I can eat this podium with a fork and fucking knife, I’m so angry.
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She continued: “The backsliding from our brief moment of progress is statistically devastating. It is devastating. Such a pitiful number of films from the past last year have been made by women. Our business is in a state of emergency, man. I am thankful to you. I am not grateful to a boys club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while siphoning our resources and belittling our true perspectives.”
“Those of us who have been lucky enough to make a movie have a responsibility to those who are yet to come,” she concluded.
Stewart has been outspoken in the past on the subject of gender equality in filmmaking. Last year, she said efforts to get female-directed films into production “feel phony”, adding: “[There’s a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how we’re all made of it. It’s easy for them to be like, ‘Look what we’re doing. We’re making Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie! We’re making Margot Robbie’s movie!’ And you’re like, OK, cool. You’ve chosen four.”
A 2023 study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative revealed that only 12.1 per cent of major release films in 2023 were directed by women, while a San Diego State University study found that women made up 24 per cent of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers in the top grossing films of 2024.
The Chronology Of Water is an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 book of the same name, written, co-produced and directed by Stewart and starring Imogen Poots as a writer who finds her salvation as a swimmer.
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