America Ferrera has opened up about her experience with ‘inequalities’ and an ‘imbalance in the workplace’ following the birth of her children.
America, known for her roles in Ugly Betty, Superstore and Barbie, detailed the many changes she noticed after welcoming her son and daughter into the world.
Speaking about her own experiences as well as insights from other mums around her, the 39-year-old highlighted that things ‘must change’ for working mums.
Opening up to Glamour UK, Ferrara admitted, “Since becoming a parent to my now five-year-old-son and three-year-old daughter, I’ve experienced a whole new category of imbalance in the workplace”.
“I’ve seen the inequalities that put the burden of parenting on women, the disproportionate cost of what that means to mothers and their careers, and the cultural expectations placed on women that we internalise and hold ourselves to”.
America went on to share, “I’m on multiple text chains with working moms stressing out about dilemmas like whether to go on a work trip or miss their kids’ doctor appointment”.
“Women at every level of their careers are having to make choices that cost us money, affect our mental health, our physical health, and quality of life. Our culture and our policies must change”.
Reflecting back on her own childhood, America revealed she’s had a passion for acting and helping others from a young age.
“When I was five years old, I declared to my mother that when I grew up, I wanted to be both an actress and a human rights lawyer”.
“While I already knew what I was passionate about in kindergarten, it wasn’t until many years later- well into my career as an actress- that I truly understood how these two ambitions could go hand in hand: how I could use my platform to amplify the causes I care about and use the power of storytelling to impact people’s lives for the better”.
“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to fight injustice to incite change in this world”.
The mum-of-two also spoke about her interest in advocacy, explaining, “It is so often the women who carry so much of the responsibility to create access and opportunity. But also, it is the women who are given the least resources to achieve it”.
“So I became very passionate about democracy and elections, and that’s how I got proximate to the issues of environmental racism and access to education, reproductive freedom, and bodily autonomy”.
“All these issues mattered to me and connected to me as a woman, and as a person who wants to see the true empowerment of families and communities who are often left to fend for themselves”.
