In 2015, Streep starred in Jonathan Demme’s “Ricki and the Flash”, playing a grocery store checkout worker by day who is a rock musician at night, and who has one last chance to reconnect with her estranged family. Streep learned to play the guitar for the semi-autobiographical dramedy film, which reunited her with her eldest daughter Mamie Gummer. Once again, reviews of the film were generally mixed. Streep’s other film of the year was director Sarah Gavron’s period drama Suffragette, co-starring Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. In the film, she played the small but pivotal role of Emmeline Pankhurst, a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. The film received mostly positive reviews, particularly for the performances of the cast, though its distributor earned criticism that Streep’s prominent position within the marketing was misleading.

Besides her steady work in film, Streep was active in the causes close to her heart. In April 2015, it was announced that Streep had funded a screenwriters lab for female screenwriters over forty years old, called the Writers Lab, to be run by New York Women in Film & Television and the collective IRIS. As of the announcement, the Writers Lab is the only initiative in the world for female screenwriters over forty years old. She also became a spokesperson for the National Women’s History Museum, after President and CEO Joan Wages wrote her a letter. “She is immensely kind and thoughtful,” Wages said. “She just gets the importance of a museum like this that will honor women and show that they have contributed to the building of this nation in ways that they have not, to this date, been given credit.” Meryl hosted the museum’s “The de Pizan Honors” gala in 2009, where, each year, NWHM pays tribute posthumously to selected women with an award in their name presented to a contemporary counterpart. At the event, Streep donated $1 million to the cause. She has also participated in numerous high profile events for the Museum, including “Shine On” at Radio City Music Hall for two consecutive years.