The Carol star says there is no shortage of jobs for women in Hollywood and it's time the conversation moved on.
Cate Blanchett has told Sky News it is the media which is creating an issue over women's inequality in Hollywood.
The Oscar winner dismissed claims by her peers that it is
harder to carve a successful career in the film industry if you are a
woman: "There's a critical mass of women behind the camera - in front of
the camera - who are producing, who are making the work and then it's
about how it's discussed."Blanchett, who is promoting Carol, said it is about time the conversation moved on: "I think it’s up to the media to change the conversation, frankly; to change the language.
"The work is there, the talent is there - it has been for decades, for centuries: it’s about changing the discourse around it."
Blanchett did agree that there is an issue with pay disparity - as highlighted by Jennifer Lawrence - but didn’t think that it was a problem that exists solely in Hollywood.
"It's not just the film industry, it's across all industries - equal pay for equal work."
In Carol, Blanchett plays a housewife in 1950s New York who falls for a younger woman, played by Rooney Mara.
It's based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price Of Salt - which was published in 1952 with the tag line: "The novel of a love society forbids."
Jennifer Lawrence has been fighting for pay equality
"It's about two women falling in love - but you sort of forget their gender - it's an impediment but another impediment to their love is the age gap and the class difference.
"If the film had been made 10 years ago, I think it would have been viewed as a much more political film.
"But we did a press conference and people from China were saying it would be a difficult film for people to see there, in many parts of Africa, in Russia, this film will perhaps not be seen - so it's not necessarily the fact that these two women are falling in love - it's by no means easy all around the world."
The film has received six Independent Spirit Award nominations - and many critics are tipping both leads for Oscar nominations - with Blanchett in the running for best actress and Rooney Mara expected to be in the best supporting actress category.
But Blanchett is not getting too carried away about early Oscar predictions: "If you can harness that buzz then that's fantastic - because what it does is that it makes an audience excited to go and see the film and that’s why we all do it."
But she admits that she'd love her name to be read when the nominations are confirmed early next year: "Of course it's great to be recognised by your peers, but it’s not why you go into it - you’re made to feel disingenuous if you say that….but it's true!"
Carol is in cinemas now.
