Jurnee Smollett-Bell Isn’t Afraid of Feminism
Jurnee Smollett-Bell is expecting her first child, and it’s a life event that is inspiring the devout activist to cling even tighter to her ideals of social equality. As an actress she’s appeared in such hit shows as Friday Night Lights and WGN America’s Underground, but the 29-year-old also dedicates her time to charitable endeavors and championing feminism, making an effort to surround herself with like-minded individuals. During a recent talk with Yahoo Style, Smollett-Bell revealed that her husband, Josiah Bell, and brothers consider themselves advocates for women’s rights. “It’s definitely helped me a lot being married to a feminist,” she reveals. “He roots for me. He’s my cheerleader.”
The actress, who’s a staunch advocate for Black Lives Matter and equal roles for females in Hollywood, has recently found a new area of social injustice to focus on: the treatment of working parents. She’s challenging the Screen Actors Guild’s policies and even nudging the union to rethink its childcare and maternity leave options for working actors.
Here, Bell discusses her definition of a modern-day feminism, being in awe of her pregnant body, and why the world will be a much better place if the needs of females are taken more seriously.
Yahoo Style: You recently spoke on a BlogHer panel about being a NextGen feminist. What drives you to be so outspoken about feminism?
Jurnee Smollett-Bell: I feel like it’s ever evolving. The needs and desires of women are becoming more and more prevalent and as a society, we have to address it. I think the economy does better when women are doing better. When we service women and children, it’s just evident that we all benefit from it. And for me, I have my experience with the activism work I do but also as an actress, I can’t put a price tag on my soul because of it. It’s not always easy to navigate this industry, just in the very complex issues I deal with as a woman and as a feminist — everything from the fact that only 4 percent of the directors working in the industry are African American females. The fact that women account for little over 30 percent of all speaking roles in film is pretty pathetic. And oftentimes the roles are girlfriend roles and wife roles and you are there to just give a man your sympathy. And that’s something I’ve always fought against. It’s very uninteresting to play those roles, to go to set and apply a bunch of makeup to just be pretty. That’s boring. I think it’s a complex issue. It’s not just as simple as equal pay, which is important. It’s also diving into really what our needs are and I think that we’re learning that our needs are very much complex but it’s not less important to address them and meet them.
People hear the word “feminist” and a lot of connotations come up. What is your definition of a feminist?
The definition is ever-evolving. I think it’s just realizing that in order for us all to excel, we need to be passionate in making sure that the needs of women and girls are met — whether it’s education, opportunities, whether it’s equal pay, whether it’s making sure there is child care, whether it is rights and protecting our healthcare rights and rights to make decisions about our own bodies. You can be a male or female. My brothers, my husband are feminists and they’ll say it all the time. It’s just because they know the importance of meeting the needs of girls and women. Whether you are male or female, you benefit when women excel. Women hold up our society.
What are the benefits of being married to a male feminist?
It’s pretty awesome! He grew up with three sisters, and his mom is his best. He’ll be the first to correct his friends. It’s so cool because I don’t even have to do it. If his friend makes an inappropriate comment or calls a woman out or is just ignorant about a topic or something like that, you can’t shut Josiah up. He’s super passionate about it. And it wasn’t even something I had to educate him on. I give his mom a lot of credit for that because, I think, because they’ve always been so close, he just personally feels invested. He personally feels the injustice when women feel the injustice. It’s a personal assault to him. And so for me, it’s pretty awesome. I think when you navigate a household and when you are married and when you have two people who have strong opinions and strong careers and strong visions and strong dreams, it’s definitely helped me a lot being married to a feminist. He roots for me. He’s my cheerleader. So when I’m on set working for 16 hours, he’s not giving me an attitude for that. He’s like, “Go baby. Go shine!” It benefits me in big and small ways.
You guys are going to be the ultimate parents and will have very forward-thinking children.
Yeah! I feel blessed. I feel excited. I know we won’t be perfect, but there is an amazing book that Alfre Woodard gave me called Whole Child/Whole Parent that I’m reading. And one of the things it says in that is it’s not important to be a perfect parent, it’s important to be a searching parent. And I love that so much because I’m such a perfectionist in my life and the pressure of being a parent is huge. But when you really take that off and you say, “You know what? I want to make mistakes in front of my child. I want them to see me in all my imperfections and I want them to see me searching and growing and learning.” That’s a whole other chapter I’m entering, but I’m excited about it.
Does getting ready to bring a child into the world make you cling a little tighter to some of these female equality issues that you are passionate about? Have you noticed yourself caring in a more intense way?
Well, yeah. I’m just seeing how it affects me. I will soon be a working mom. I am about to start shooting Season 2 of Underground next week, so I see how it personally will affect me. It’s funny, I was just talking with a friend of mine and we were like, “I wonder if this industry is just more advanced in the nation in protecting working moms.” I made an anonymous call to our guild to just be like, “Hey, so what is the protection that you guys provide? Do you provide stipulations for working moms or is there a daycare on set?” I just asked all these questions and got a very frank answer of “No. You’re just like any other actor and you kind of have to negotiate it on your own.” And I was like, “Oh. I see. We haven’t thought about this.” We haven’t actually thought that it was important to protect working moms. And there really is no template out there about it, which I think we have a lot to do. For instance, I have a friend who is an actress and she was very afraid to even bring her child on set or fly home and ask for the time that she was off for a week to fly home and see her child and things like this. And I was just blown away by this. I was like, “Wait. We’re in 2016? Hello, people. We shouldn’t still be afraid of these things.” We should be able to navigate being a whole woman and all that that means.
I know a lot of actresses bring their children on set but I didn’t know it was just something that they kind of did around the system.
Yeah, which is something I kind of thought too. But I’m new to this world. This is all new for me. I don’t know what moms do. I am starting to talk to other moms who are in the profession to find out what they do. It is just interesting. There is not really a template set up. I think everyone just kind of negotiates their own situation. Look, I’m not on my soapbox crying, because we get paid a lot of money to live out our dreams and do what we love. And then you have the mom who works at the grocery store, and she might not get the ability to negotiate with her boss. But it just definitely is indicative to me of how far we have to go as a nation.
Are you at all worried about going back to work on Underground and filming such an intense, dark role while pregnant?
It’s a land of unknowns for me. It’s a bunch of firsts, which keeps my life exciting. I have an amazingly supportive team and my husband. Underground is incredibly supportive and excited. I will have to let you know how it goes after we do this. But I love what I do. I’m an artist, so I want my child now to experience the whole person of who I am. In that instance, I’m excited about it.
Have you been having fun dressing your baby bump?
It’s difficult! It’s more difficult than I thought. Honestly, it’s fun but my bump has finally now popped. It definitely is fun to be like, “What’s this?” And then I’m growing in strange areas. It’s just amazing. I’m just in awe of the woman’s body, what the female body is capable of. I’ve gained a deeper appreciation during my pregnancy. I think the hardest thing will be wearing these long, hot dresses in Georgia for season two. That will be harder than anything else. But we’ll see. We have an amazing costume designer, Karyn Wagner, so I’m sure she’ll come up with something that is great for the character and great for me.
Do you know if you’re having a boy or girl?
Not yet. We’re not talking about it yet. We’re just keeping it close. But we’re very excited!
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
