Michelle Williams received a standing ovation following her acceptance speech at the 2019 Emmy Awards, as she used her time in the spotlight to speak out about equal pay.
Michelle won Best Actress in a Limited Series for her role in Fosse/Verdon.
As she clutched her gong, she began her speech by saying:
I transcribed all of Michelle Williams’ incredible #Emmys2019 speech, which you should all read and/or watch ASAP: pic.twitter.com/9HtjeJXSOm
— Jessica Derschowitz (@jessicasara) September 23, 2019
“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.”
Michelle gave thanks to her bosses for listening to her needs as an employee and for “paying her equally.”
“They understood that when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value,” she said.
Every boss – especially those in charge of diverse staff – should listen to Michelle Williams’ Emmy speech on allowing ppl to succeed because of their working environments, not in spite of them. pic.twitter.com/DDgpcioZaA
— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) September 23, 2019
“So the next time a woman, 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, believe her.”
“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.”
On best pal Busy Philip’s Instagram story, Michelle revealed that she received 84 texts after her winning speech – “more texts than she would get in a week.”
