Patricia Arquette calls for women's wage equality

LOS ANGELES — Meryl Streep cheered, pointed and shouted "Yes! Yes! Yes!" as Patricia Arquette ended her Oscar acceptance speech with a call for wage equality for women.

 

Arquette, who won best actress for portraying the mother in "Boyhood," had just beaten Streep out for the award and had read a long list of thank-yous and thrown in a plug for GiveLove.com, which advocates for ecological sanitation, when she changed themes.

 

"To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen in this nation: We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality in the U.S.," she said.

 

The call to action, which seemed to take the audience by surprise, had many people on their feet and cheering.

 

"Made my night," Streep told Arquette backstage."