At the annual Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston, Meryl Streep, in conversation with Gloria Steinem, said that she and other notable women in Hollywood are making very specific demands to industry executives about the future – namely, she said, for equal pay. “We are after 50/50 by 2020,” she said, per U.S. News & World Report. “Equal means equal. And if it starts at the top, none of these shenanigans would have filtered down and it wouldn’t have been tolerated.” Streep has long been encouraging Congress to back the Equal Rights Amendment. In 2015, she sent every single member a package in the mail that contained a personal letter asking them to “stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment” and a copy of E.R.A. Coalition President Jessica Neuwirth’s book, Equal Means Equal. Streep later said that Congress essentially ignored her plea. But, at the conference, Streep said that now – as dozens of men, in Hollywood and beyond, fall from their positions of power after sexual assault allegations—is the time to, once again, demand change. The two-day event, attracting a record audience of 16,000, started on the day TIME Magazine featured “The Silence Breakers” on the cover of its annual “Person of the Year” issue, recognizing those who are stepping forward to confront their harassers. “It’s such an interesting moment, because this conversation about why this is so widespread, this is really worth having and it’s fantastic,” Streep said. “I can’t help thinking it’s just a door that’s opening to a better world.”

On Harvey Weinstein: The thing about Harvey Weinstein is that he is sort of the most gargantuan example of a kind of disrespect that permeates every industry, every enterprise. I’m not sure why. I have a lot of theories – maybe its in response to the women’s movement. Maybe its in fear of the women movement. But these abuses are about dominance.

On the state of Hollywood: I’m very hopeful that the world is changing. I think in this world now of opportunity there’s so many great opportunities for women to enter different jobs, different enterprises. But to rise, to get up to that top layer which they kinda still keep for themselves. There are always three women on a board, and then there are 9 or 12 or 14 other people. Equal means equal. And if it starts at the top, none of these shenanigans would have filtered down and been tolerated. Part of the problem is that there’s no horrible plot at the top of Hollywood not to keep people of color or women out of leadership positions. It’s that ‘like hires like.’ White hires white. A guy who wears his baseball cap backwards hires a guy who wears his baseball cap backwards. So we have to encourage the people who are currently in power, who are of one gender, to open the door.

On equality: It’s that little feeling you get when the pilot comes on in airplane, and it’s a woman’s voice. I feel thrilled—but I can feel in the cabin there’s a little shift, and we all clip our seat belts a little bit tighter. Until we get rid of that knee-jerk bias – that tiny, repressed instinct that makes us think, if only momentarily, that men may actually be more qualified to pilot a plane than women – true equality will not be possible. My mother was a housewife, she played bridge all day. But she could have run the joint chiefs of staff. She was a really extraordinary person, and she never had the chance. But she said, “Meryl, you are capable.” That’s the highest compliment in the world.

On self-image and support: Don’t worry about your weight. It’s a big waste of time. When I think about how many years I’ve wasted thinking about that subject, it’s just idiotic. We lose so many genius people and their genius ideas because they’re looking in the mirror saying, “Oh my god, my ass is too big.”