Margot Robbie reveals ‘inherent’ sexism she faces as a producer
She said that it is ‘naturally ingrained in people’ so they refer to a man in the room, rather than a woman.
Margot Robbie has said that she will sometimes be overlooked as a producer and that people will talk to her male colleagues, rather than her.
The Hollywood star said that, while she rarely has sexist statements directed at her, she does see inherent sexism in subconscious undertones, particularly when producing.
The Oscar-nominated actress told Glamour UK: “It’s naturally ingrained in people – even if you are the one who should be dictating the decisions – that they turn to the closest, eldest male in the room and direct the question at them.
“It’s just an inherent thing everyone has got in their DNA.”
Robbie, who has produced films including I, Tonya, Terminal and her new movie Birds Of Prey, added: “When people are asking the question and I have the answer and they so readily will turn to my producing partners, who are guys, and will ask them. ‘It’s a finance thing so I will ask the guy.’
“And they are like: ‘Actually she is the one with the answer, you should ask her!’
“It’s the societal construct we have grown up knowing. I think the interesting thing now is that everyone is so conscious of that and they often catch themselves.”
Robbie, 29, said that she thinks people “really want to embrace the idea of equality” and that “they are a little shocked they hadn’t before, and they didn’t have that mindset and they weren’t conscious of it”.
The Australian actress, who rose to fame in the soap Neighbours more than 10 years ago, said that she still sometimes deals with “impostor syndrome”, and that she does not deserve her career successes.
She said that she would like to be able to tell her younger self to have less self doubt.
“I would want to tell her, ‘you are actually good enough,'” Robbie said.
“The biggest thing for me was I had this impostor syndrome. I still get it sometimes and think everyone will realise: ‘How did you get here? You are not good enough for this? Who let you in?’
“I don’t think there is one thing where I have said: ‘You have nailed it.’ I always think: ‘You did what you set out to do but you missed the mark here and next time you are going to do it different.'”
Robbie, who is nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Bombshell, and who received a best actress nod in 2018 for I, Tonya, will next reprise her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn in DC Comics film Birds Of Prey.
The film, also starring Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell, finds Harley Quinn after her split from the Joker and teamed up with Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.
The full interview is in the January digital issue of Glamour UK, available now.
