Outgoing Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal Defends Paying Women Less Than Men

Now that she's on her way out at Sony after enduring arguably the toughest months of her 15-year tenure at the studio, Amy Pascal has no reason not to tell the whole, unvarnished truth. And that's exactly what she did at the Women in the World conference on Thursday.

In an onstage interview with journalist Tina Brown, Pascal addressed everything from her less-than-friendly remarks about Angelina Jolie to the revelation made via her leaked e-mails that women at the studio were being paid less than their male counterparts.

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Although Pascal said she regretted the former, she was less apologetic about the latter. "I've paid [Jennifer Lawrence] a lot more money since then, I promise you," she said according to Re/code in reference to a leaked e-mail that showed that Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid less than their male American Hustle co-stars Christian Blake and Bradley Cooper.

Pascal said the problem was much bigger than just her studio. "Here's the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I pay them less money," she said. "Women shouldn't work for less money. They should know what they're worth. Women shouldn't take less. 'Stop, you don't need the job that bad.'"

Pascal also recalled learning that the hackers had access to her e-mails. "There was this horrible moment when I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do about whether I'd hurt people, whether I'd betrayed people," she said. "I couldn't protect anyone." However, she also said it was "strangely freeing. Because all of a sudden, that was just what it was," she said. "There is nothing you can do. You can't say anything. You can't explain anything. It's just there."

Pascal will stay on at Sony through May, and has also signed a new four-year producing contract with the studio. She is also set to produce the new Spider-Man films.

What do you think of Pascal's comments?

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