https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-EmDy3w1X8

By now you may have heard that Patricia Arquette won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood.

But she didn’t just win an Oscar last night.  She won the hearts and minds of women across the U.S. with her passionate call for wage equality for women.  After thanking her costars, family and friends, she got to her message:

To every woman who gave birth to every tax payer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody’s else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America!

Apparently, co-nominee Meryl Streep agreed.  She can be seen fist pumping her support for Arquette alongside Jennifer Lopez and others in the audience cheering loudly after hearing Arquette speak.

Arquette’s speech follows the revelation that even major celebrities are plagued by inequality in pay.  When Sony Pictures was hacked in December, it was revealed that Oscar winner and Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence and her co-star, five-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams, were paid less than her arguably much less-bankable male co-stars in American Hustle.

Following her speech on stage, Arquette told the Oscars press room, “I think we have federal laws that are comprehensive, we need to pass a constitutional amendment in the United States of America, so we can pass the ERA once and for all.”

Arquette was referring to the Equal Rights Amendment, which seeks to ensure gender equality under the U.S. Constitution, which would include equal pay.  To learn more about the ERA proposals, check out www.equalrightsamendment.org.

Watch the full video above!