title: Gender pay gap

text: Another explanation of such gender pay gap is the distribution of housework. Couples who raise a child tend to designate the mother to do the larger share of housework and take on the main responsibility of childcare, and as a result, women tend to have less time available for wage-earning. This reinforces the pay gap between males and females in the labor market, and now people are trapped in this self-reinforcing cycle.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The United States maternity leave policy states that employees who have worked the necessary allotted hours are allowed a total of 12 weeks away from work, unpaid. However, these benefits are only regulated to employers who have more than 50 employees. Smaller businesses or companies with less than 50 people are not required to provide leave for new mothers. While the 12 weeks are intended to be used after a mother gives birth or newly adopts, the time can also be used up if there are complications with the pregnancy that require them to miss work. The 12 week unpaid policy in the U.S. is being expanded upon in a few states across the country. For example, New Jersey is now offering new mothers and their families the option to enroll in programs that allow them compensation while away from their job. Now, mothers have a way secure income despite not working.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The introduction of a child to some American families results in 43% of new mothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to face major career changes, varying from abandoning the workforce entirely to exchanging their careers in STEM for part-time work, or a career in another field. While this is true for new mothers, some studies show that both new mothers and fathers report being affected by “flexibility stigma” in the workplace. Flexibility stigma can be defined as the consequences imposed on workers for attempting to balance the responsibilities of their careers and families. It has also been found that career-people of the STEM field with young children face more "work-family" conflict, as the demands of the rigorous STEM field and those of their young children overlap.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Another social factor, which is related to the aforementioned one, is the socialization of individuals to adopt specific gender roles. Job choices influenced by socialization are often slotted in to "demand-side" decisions in frameworks of wage discrimination, rather than a result of extant labor market discrimination influencing job choice. Men that are in non-traditional job roles or jobs that are primarily seen as a women-focused jobs, such as nursing, have high enough job satisfaction that motivates the men to continue in these job fields despite criticism they may receive.


title: Gender pay gap

text: According to a 1998 study, in the eyes of some employees, women in middle management are perceived to lack the courage, leadership, and drive that male managers appear to have, despite female middle managers achieving results on par with their male counterparts in terms of successful projects and achieving results for their employing companies. These perceptions, along with the factors previously described in the article, contribute to the difficulty of women to ascend to the executive ranks when compared to men in similar positions.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Societal ideas of gender roles stem somewhat from media influences. Media portrays ideals of gender-specific roles off of which gender stereotypes are built. These stereotypes then translate to what types of work men and women can or should do. In this way, gender plays a mediating role in work discrimination, and women find themselves in positions that do not allow for the same advancements as males.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Some research suggests that women are more likely to volunteer for tasks that are less likely to help earn promotions, and that they are more likely to be asked to volunteer and more likely to say yes to such requests.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The gender pay gap can be a problem from a public policy perspective because it reduces economic output and means that women are more likely to be dependent upon welfare payments, especially in old age.


title: Gender pay gap

text: A 2009 report for the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs argued that in addition to fairness and equity there are also strong economic imperatives for addressing the gender wage gap. The researchers estimated that a decrease in the gender wage gap from 17% to 16% would increase GDP per capita by approximately $260, mostly from an increase in the hours females would work. Ignoring opposing factors as hours females work increase, eliminating the whole gender wage gap from 17% could be worth around $93 billion or 8.5% of GDP. The researchers estimated the causes of the wage gap as follows, lack of work experience was 7%, lack of formal training was 5%, occupational segregation was 25%, working at smaller firms was 3%, and being female represented the remaining 60%.


title: Gender pay gap

text: An October 2012 study by the American Association of University Women found that over the course of 47 years, an American woman with a college degree will make about $1.2 million less than a man with the same education. Therefore, closing the pay gap by raising women's wages would have a stimulus effect that would grow the United States economy by at least 3% to 4%.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Considering women make less than men overall, they are also less likely to be eligible to participate in pension plans. This is because pensions plans are generally calculated based on one's salary per year. Further, this would require women to be employed in jobs that offer retirement plans, which they are less likely to be a part of than men. The European Commission argues that the pay gap has significant effects on pensions. Since women's lifetime earnings are on average 17.5% (as of 2008) lower than men's, they have lower pensions. As a result, elderly women are more likely to face poverty: 22% of women aged 65 and over are at risk of poverty compared to 16% of men.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Analysis conducted by the World Bank and available in the 2019 World Development Report on "The Changing Nature of Work" connects earnings with skill accumulation, suggesting that women also accumulate less human capital (skills and knowledge) at work and through their careers. The report shows that the payoffs to work experience is lower for women across the world as compared to men. For example, in Venezuela, for each additional year of work, men's wages increase on average by 2.2 percent, compared to only 1.5 percent for women. In Denmark, by contrast, the payoffs to an additional year of work experience are the same for both men and women, at 5 percent on average. To address these differences, the report argues that governments could seek to remove limitations on the type or nature of work available to women and eliminate rules that limit women's property rights. Parental leave, nursing breaks, and the possibility for flexible or part-time schedules are also identified as potential factors limiting women's learning in the workplace.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In certain neoclassical models, discrimination by employers can be inefficient; excluding or limiting employment of a specific group will raise the wages of groups not facing discrimination. Other firms could then gain a competitive advantage by hiring more workers from the group facing discrimination. As a result, in the long run discrimination would not occur. However, this view depends on strong assumptions about the labor market and the production functions of the firms attempting to discriminate. Firms which discriminate on the basis of real or perceived customer or employee preferences would also not necessarily see discrimination disappear in the long run even under stylized models.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In monopsony theory, which describes situations where there is only one buyer (in this case, a "buyer" for labor), wage discrimination can be explained by variations in labor mobility constraints between workers. Ransom and Oaxaca (2005) show that women appear to be less pay sensitive than men, and therefore employers take advantage of this and discriminate in their pay for women workers.


title: Gender pay gap

text: According to the 2008 edition of the "Employment Outlook" report by the OECD, almost all OECD countries have established laws to combat discrimination on grounds of gender. Examples of this are the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Legal prohibition of discriminatory behavior, however, can only be effective if it is enforced. The OECD points out that:


title: Gender pay gap

text: herein lies a major problem: in all OECD countries, enforcement essentially relies on the victims' willingness to assert their claims. But many people are not even aware of their legal rights regarding discrimination in the workplace. And even if they are, proving a discrimination claim is intrinsically difficult for the claimant and legal action in courts is a costly process, whose benefits down the road are often small and uncertain. All this discourages victims from lodging complaints.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Moreover, although many OECD countries have put in place specialized anti-discrimination agencies, only in a few of them are these agencies effectively empowered, in the absence of individual complaints, to investigate companies, take actions against employers suspected of operating discriminatory practices, and sanction them when they find evidence of discrimination.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In 2003, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that women in the United States, on average, earned 80% of what men earned in 2000 and workplace discrimination may be one contributing factor. In light of these findings, GAO examined the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in the private and public sectors. In a 2008 report, GAO focused on the enforcement and outreach efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor (Labor). GAO found that EEOC does not fully monitor gender pay enforcement efforts and that Labor does not monitor enforcement trends and performance outcomes regarding gender pay or other specific areas of discrimination. GAO came to the conclusion that "federal agencies should better monitor their performance in enforcing anti-discrimination laws."


title: Gender pay gap

text: In 2016, the EEOC proposed a rule to submit more information on employee wages by gender to better monitor and combat gender discrimination. In 2018, Iceland enacted legislation to reduce the country's pay gap.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Civil society groups organize awareness campaigns that include activities such as Equal Pay Day or the equal pay for equal work movement to increase the public attention received by the gender pay gap. For the same reason, various groups publish regular reports on the current state of gender pay differences. An example is the Global Gender Gap Report.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The growth of the "gig" economy generates worker flexibility that, some have speculated, will favor women. However, the analysis of earnings among more than one million Uber drivers in the United States surprisingly showed that the gender pay gap between drivers is about 7% in favor of men. Uber's algorithm does not distinguish the gender of its workers, but men get more income because they choose better when and in which areas to work, and cancel and accept trips in a more lucrative way. Finally, men drive 2.2% faster than women, which also allows them to increase their income per unit of time. The study concludes the "gig" economy can perpetuate the gender pay gap even in the absence of discrimination.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In 2020, researchers from Stanford University used data from more than one million Uber drivers to show that, despite female drivers earning 7% less than male drivers, this difference was "entirely attributed to three factors: experience on the platform (...), preferences and constraints over where to work (...), and preferences for driving speed"; they noted that their results " suggest that there is no reason to expect the "gig" economy to close gender differences. Even in the absence of discrimination and in flexible labor markets, women's relatively high opportunity cost of non-paid-work time and gender-based differences in preferences and constraints can sustain a gender pay gap."


title: Gender pay gap

text: This is a plot of non-adjusted pay gaps (median earnings of full-time employees) according to the OECD.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Moreover, the World Economic Forum provides data from 2015 that evaluates the gender pay gap in 145 countries. Their evaluations take into account economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment scores.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In Australia, the Workplace Gender and Equality Agency (WGEA), an Australian Government statutory agency, publishes data from non-public sector Australian organizations. There is a pay gap across all industries. The gender pay gap is calculated on the average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time employees published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The gender pay gap excludes part-time earnings, casual earnings, and increased hourly rates for overtime.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Australia has a persistent gender pay gap. Between 1990 and 2020, the gender pay gap remained within a range of between 13 and 19%. In November 2020, the Australian gender pay gap was 13.4%.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Ian Watson of Macquarie University examined the gender pay gap among full-time managers in Australia over the period 2001–2008, and found that between 65 and 90% of this earnings differential could not be explained by a large range of demographic and labor market variables. In fact, a "major part of the earnings gap is simply due to women managers being female". Watson also notes that despite the "characteristics of male and female managers being remarkably similar, their earnings are very different, suggesting that discrimination plays an important role in this outcome". A 2009 report to the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs also found that "simply being a woman is the major contributing factor to the gap in Australia, accounting for 60 per cent of the difference between women's and men's earnings, a finding which reflects other Australian research in this area". The second most important factor in explaining the pay gap was industrial segregation. A report by the World Bank also found that women in Australia who worked part-time jobs and were married came from households which had a gendered distribution of labor, possessed high job satisfaction, and hence were not motivated to increase their working hours.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The Global Gender Gap Report ranks Brazil at 95 out of 144 countries on pay equality for like jobs. Brazil has a score of 0.684, which is a little below 2017's global index. In 2017, Brazil was one of the 6 countries that fully closed their gaps on both the Health and Survival and Educational Attainment sub-indexes. However, Brazil saw a setback in the progress towards gender parity this year, with its overall gender gap standing at its widest point since 2011. This is due to an exponential growth of Brazil's Political Empowerment gender gap, which measures the ratio of females in the parliament and at a ministerial level, that is too large to be counterbalanced by a range of modest improvements across the country's Economic Participation and Opportunity sub-index.


title: Gender pay gap

text: According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, women in Brazil study more, work more and earn less than men. On average, combining paid work, household chores and caring for people, women work three hours a week more than men. In fact, the average women will work 54.4 hours a week, and the average man will only work 51.4 hours per week. Despite that, even with a higher educational level, women earn, on average, less than men do. Although the difference between men's and women's earnings has declined in recent years, in 2016 women still received the equivalent of 76.5% of men's earnings. One of the factors that may explain this difference is that only 37.8% of management positions in 2016 were held by women. According to IBGE, occupational segregation and the wage discrimination of women in the labor market also have an important role in the wage difference between men and women. According to data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey, done by IBGE on the fourth quarter of 2017, 24.3% of the 40.2 million Brazilian workers had completed college, but this proportion was of 14.6% among employed men. As reported by the same survey, women who work earn 24.4% less, on average, than men. It also cited that 6.0% of working men were employers, while the proportion of women employers was only 3.3%. The survey also pointed out that 92.3% of domestic workers, a job culturally known as "feminine" and that pays low wages, are women. While high paying occupations like civil construction employed 13% of the employed men and only 0.5% of the employed women. Other reason that might explain the gender wage gap in Brazil are the very strict labor regulations that increase informal hiring. In Brazil, under law, female workers may opt to take 6 months of maternity leave that must be fully paid by the employer. Many researches are concerned with this regulations. They question if these regulations may actually force workers into informal jobs, where they will have no rights at all. In fact, women who work on informal jobs earn only 50% of the average women in formal jobs. Between men the difference is less radical: men working on informal jobs earn 60% of the average men in formal jobs.


title: Gender pay gap

text: A study of wages among Canadian supply chain managers found that men make an average of $14,296 a year more than women. The research suggests that as supply chain managers move up the corporate ladder, they are less likely to be female. Women in Canada are more likely to seek employment opportunities which greatly contrast the ones of men. About 20 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 will make just under $12 an hour in Canada. The demographic of women who take jobs paying less than $12 an hour is also a proportion that is twice as large as the proportion of men taking on the same type of low-wage work. There still remains the question of why such a trend seems to resonate throughout the developed world. One identified societal factor that has been identified is the influx of women of color and immigrants into the work force. These groups both tend to be subject to lower paying jobs from a statistical perspective. Each province and territory in Canada has a quasi-constitutional human rights code which prohibits discrimination based on sex. Several also have laws specifically prohibiting public sector and private sector employers from paying men and women differing amounts for substantially similar work. Verbatim, the Alberta Human Rights Act states in regards to equal pay, "Where employees of both sexes perform the same or substantially similar work for an employer in an establishment the employer shall pay the employees at the same rate of pay."


title: Gender pay gap

text: Using the gaps between men and women in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, "The Global Gender Gap Report 2018" ranks China's gender gap at 110 out of 145 countries. As an upper middle income country, as classified by the World Bank, China is the "third-least improved country in the world" on the gender gap. The health and survival sub-index is the lowest within the countries listed; this sub-index takes into account the gender differences of life expectancy and sex ratio at birth (the ratio of male to female children to depict the preferences of sons in accordance with China's One Child Policy). In particular, Jayoung Yoon, a researcher, claims the women's employment rate is decreasing. However, several of the contributing factors might be expected to increase women's participation. Yoon's contributing factors include: the traditional gender roles; the lack of childcare services provided by the state; the obstacle of child rearing; and the highly educated, unmarried women termed "leftover women" by the state. The term "leftover women" produces anxieties for women to rush marriage, delaying employment. In alignment with the traditional gender roles, the "Women Return to the Home" movement by the government encouraged women to leave their jobs to alleviate the men's unemployment rate.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Dominican women, who are 52.2% of the labor force, earns an average of 20,479 Dominican pesos, 2.6% more than Dominican men's average income of 19,961 pesos. The Global Gender Gap ranking, found by compiling economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment scores, in 2009 it was 67th out of 134 countries representing 90% of the globe, and its ranking has dropped to 86th out of 145 countries in 2015. More women are in ministerial offices, improving the political empowerment score, but women are not receiving equal pay for similar jobs, preserving the low economic participation and opportunity scores.


title: Gender pay gap

text: At EU level, the gender pay gap is defined as the relative difference in the average gross hourly earnings of women and men within the economy as a whole. Eurostat found a persisting gender pay gap of 17.5% on average in the 27 EU Member States in 2008. There were considerable differences between the Member States, with the non-adjusted pay gap ranging from less than 10% in Italy, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, and Poland to more than 20% in Slovakia, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, United Kingdom, and Greece and more than 25% in Estonia and Austria. However, taking into account the hours worked in Finland, men there only earned 0.4% more in net income than women.


title: Gender pay gap

text: A recent survey of international employment law firms showed that gender pay gap reporting is not a common policy internationally. Despite such laws on a national level being few and far between, there are calls for regulation on an EU level. A recent (as of December 2015) resolution of the European Parliament urged the Commission to table legislation closing the pay gap. A proposal that is substantively the same as the UK plan was passed by 344 votes to 156 in the European Parliament.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The European Commission has stated that the undervaluation of female work is one of the main contributors to the persisting gender pay gap. They add that explanations of the pay gap goes beyond discrimination, and that other factors contributes in upholding the gap: factors such as work-life balance, the issue of women in leadership and the glass ceiling, and sectoral segregation, which has to do with the overrepresentation of women in low-paying sectors.


title: Gender pay gap

text: On average, between 1995 and 2005, women in Finland earned 28.4% less in non-adjusted salaries than men. Taking into account the high progressive tax rate in Finland, the net income difference was 22.7%. Adjusted for the amount of hours worked (and not including unpaid national military service hours), these wage differences are reduced to approximately 5.7% (non taxed) and 0.4% (tax-adjusted).


title: Gender pay gap

text: The difference in the amount of hours worked is largely attributed to social factors; for example, women in Finland spend considerably more time on domestic work instead. Other considerable factors are increased pay rates for overtime and evening/night-time work, of which men in Finland, on average, work more. When comparing people with the same job title, women in public sector positions earn approximately 99% of their male counterparts, while those in the private sector only earn 95%. Public sector positions are generally more rigidly defined, allowing for less negotiation in individual wages and overtime/evening/night-time work.


title: Gender pay gap

text: As of 2018 Finland is ranked fourth and has fully closed gender gap on Educational Attainment and have closed more than 82% of its overall gender gap.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Women earn 22–23% less than men, according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany. The revised gender pay gap was 6–8% in the years 2006–2013. The Cologne Institute for Economic Research adjusted the wage gap to less than 2%. They reduced the gender pay gap from 25% to 11% by taking in account the work hours, education and the period of employment. The difference in revenue was reduced furthermore if women had not paused their job for more than 18 months due to motherhood.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The most significant factors associated with the remaining gender pay gap are part-time work, education and occupational segregation (less women in leading positions and in fields like STEM).


title: Gender pay gap

text: In 2017, Germany passed the Transparency in Wage Structures Act, which requires larger employers to publish information about gender pay gaps and gives employees the right to information about their salary in comparison to members of the opposite gender.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In Luxembourg, the total gender income gap represents 32.5%. The gender pay gap of full-time workers regarding monthly gross wages has narrowed over the past few years. According to the data from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) the gender pay gap dropped over 10% between 2002 and 2015. The gap is also dependent on the age group. Females between the ages of 25–34 years are getting higher wages than males in this time period. One of the reasons for that is that they have a higher level of education during this age. From the age of 35 years males earn higher salaries than females.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The current extent of gender pay gap refers to different factors such as varying working hours and diverse participation in the labor market. More females (30.4%) than males (4.6%) are working part-time, due to this fact the overall working hours for females are lowered. The labor force participation represents 60.3% for females and 76% for males, because most women will take advantage of the maternity leave. Males participate more often in higher paid jobs, for instance in executive positions (93.7%), what affects the scale of the gender pay gap as well.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In the Netherlands, recent numbers from the CBS (Central Bureau voor statistieken; "English: Central Bureau of Statistics") claim that the pay gap is getting smaller. Adjusted for occupation level, education level, experience level, and 17 other variables the difference in earnings in businesses has fallen from 9% (2008) to 7% (2014) and in government from 7% (2008) to 5% (2014). Without adjustments the gap is for businesses 20% (2014) and government 10% (2014). Young women earn more than men up until the age of 30, this is mostly due to a higher level of education. Women in the Netherlands, up until the age of 30, have a higher educational level on average than men; after this age men have on average a higher educational degree. The chance can also be caused by women getting pregnant and start taking part-time jobs so they can care for the children.


title: Gender pay gap

text: For the year 2013, the gender pay gap in India was estimated to be 24.81%. Further, while analyzing the level of female participation in the economy, a report slots India as one of the bottom 10 countries on its list. Thus, in addition to unequal pay, there is also unequal representation, because while women constitute almost half the Indian population (about 48% of the total), their representation in the work force amounts to only about one-fourth of the total.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Jayoung Yoon analyzes Japan's culture of the traditional male breadwinner model, where the husband works outside of the house while the wife is the caretaker. Despite these traditional gender roles for women, Japan's government aims to enhance the economy by improving the labor policies for mothers with Abenomics, an economy revitalization strategy. Yoon believes Abenomics represents a desire to remedy the effects of an aging population rather than a desire to promote gender equality. Evidence for the conclusion is the finding that women are entering the workforce in contingent positions for a secondary income and a company need of part-time workers based on mechanizing, outsourcing and subcontracting. Therefore, Yoon states that women's participation rates do not seem to be influenced by government policies but by companies' necessities. "The Global Gender Gap Report 2015" said that Japan's economic participation and opportunity ranking (106th), 145th being the broadest gender gap, dropped from 2014 "due to lower wage equality for similar work and fewer female legislators, senior officials and managers".


title: Gender pay gap

text: From a total of 145 states, the World Economic Forum calculates Jordan's gender gap ranking for 2015 as 140th through economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment evaluations. Jordan is the "world's second-least improved country" for the overall gender gap. The ranking dropped from 93rd in 2006. In contradiction to Jordan's provisions within its constitution and being signatory to multiple conventions for improving the gender pay gap, there is no legislation aimed at gender equality in the workforce. According to "The Global Gender Gap Report 2015", Jordan had a score of 0.61; 1.00 being equality, on pay equality for like jobs.


title: Gender pay gap

text: As stated by Jayoung Yoon, South Korea's female employment rate has increased since the 1997 Asian financial crisis as a result of women 25 to 34 years old leaving the workforce later to become pregnant and women 45 to 49 years old returning to the workforce. Mothers are more likely to continue working after child rearing on account of the availability of affordable childcare services provided for mothers previously in the workforce or the difficulty to be rehired after taking time off to raise their children. The World Economic Forum found that, in 2015, South Korea had a score of 0.55, 1.00 being equality, for pay equality for like jobs. From a total of 145 countries, South Korea had a gender gap ranking of 115th (the lower the ranking, the narrower the gender gap). On the other hand, political empowerment dropped to half of the percentage of women in the government in 2014.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In 2018, the gender wage gap in South Korea is of 34.6% and women earned about 65.4% of what men did on average, according to OECD data. With regards to monthly earnings, including part-time jobs, the gender gap can be explained primarily by the fact that women work few hours than men, but occupation and industry segregation also pay an important role.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Korea is considered to have the worst wage gap among the industrialized countries. This gap is often overlooked.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In addition, as many women leave the workplace once married or pregnant, the gender gap in pension entitlements is affected too, which in turn impacts the poverty level.


title: Gender pay gap

text: North Korea, on the other hand, is one of few countries where women earn more than men. The disparity is due to women's greater participation in the shadow economy of North Korea.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Although recent studies have shown that the gender wage gap in New Zealand has diminished in the last two decades, the gap continues to affect many women today. According to StatsNZ, the wage gap was measured to be 9.4 percent in September 2017. Back in 1998, it was measured to be approximately 16.3 percent. There are several different factors that affect New Zealand's wage gap. However, researchers claim that 80 percent of these factors cannot be elucidated, which often causes difficulty in understanding the gap.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In order to calculate the gap, New Zealand makes use of several different methods. The official gap is calculated by Statistics New Zealand. They use the difference between men and women's hourly revenue. On the other hand, the State Services Commission examine the average income of men and women for their calculation. Over the years, the OECD has and continues to track New Zealand's, along with 34 other countries', gender wage gap. In fact, the overall goal of the OECD is to fix the wage gap so that gender no longer plays a significant role in an individual's income. Although it has been a gradual change, New Zealand is one of the countries that has seen notable progress and researchers have predicted that it will continue to do so.


title: Gender pay gap

text: A wage gap exists in Russia (after 1991, but also before) and statistical analysis shows that most of it cannot be explained by lower qualifications of women compared to men. On the other hand, occupational segregation by gender and labor market discrimination seem to account for a large share of it.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The October Revolution (1917) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, have shaped the developments in the gender wage gap. These two main turning points in the Russian history frame the analysis of Russia's gender pay gap found in the economic literature. Consequently, the pay gap study can be examined for two periods: the wage gap in Soviet Russia (1917–1991) and the wage gap in the transition and post-transition (after 1991).


title: Gender pay gap

text: According to Jayoung Yoon, Singapore's aging population and low fertility rates are resulting in more women joining the labor force in response to the government's desire to improve the economy. The government provides tax relief to mothers in the workforce to encourage them to continue working. Yoon states that "as female employment increases, the gender gap in employment rates...narrows down" in Singapore. "The Global Gender Gap Report 2015" ranks Singapore's gender gap at 54th out of 145 states globally based on the economic participation and opportunity, the educational attainment, the health and survival, and the political empowerment sub-indexes (a lower rank means a smaller gender gap). The gender gap narrowed from 2014's ranking of 59. In the Asia and Pacific region, Singapore has evolved the most in the economic participation and opportunity sub-index, yet it is lower than the region's means in educational attainment and political empowerment.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In April 2018 the aggregate gender pay gap declined to 8.6%, and even reversed for certain categories, e.g. with men in their 30s paid less than women for part-time work. The gap varies considerably from −4.4% (women employed part-time without overtime out earn men) to 26% (for UK women employed full-time aged 50 – 59). In 2012 the pay gap officially dropped below 10% for full-time workers. The median pay, the point at which half of people earn more and half earn less, is 17.9% less for employed women than for employed men.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The most significant factors associated with the gender pay gap are full-time/part-time work, education, the size of the firm a person is employed in, and occupational segregation (women are under-represented in managerial and high-paying professional occupations). In part-time roles women out-earn men by 4.4% in 2018 (6.5% in 2015, 5.5% in 2014). Women workers qualified to GCSE or A level standard, experienced a smaller pay gap in 2018. (Those qualified to degree level have seen little change). A 2015 study compiled by the Press Association based on data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that women in their 20s were out-earning men in their 20s by an average of £1,111, showing a reversal of trends. However, the same study showed that men in their 30s out-earned women in their 30s by an average of £8,775. The study did not attempt to explain the causes of the gender gap.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In October 2014, the UK Equality Act 2010 was augmented with regulations which require Employment Tribunals to order an employer (except an existing micro-business or a new business) to carry out an equal pay audit where the employer is found to have breached equal pay law. The then prime minister David Cameron announced plans to require large firms to disclose data on the gender pay gap among staff. Since April 2018, employers with over 250 employees are legally required to publish data relating to pay inequalities. Data published includes the pay and bonus figures between men and women, and includes data from April 2017.


title: Gender pay gap

text: A BBC analysis of the figures after the deadline expired showed that more than three-quarters of UK companies pay men more on average than women.


title: Gender pay gap

text: Employment barrister Harini Iyengar advocates more flexible working and greater paternity leave to achieve economic and cultural change.


title: Gender pay gap

text: In the US, women's average annual salary has been estimated as 78% to 82% of that of men's average salary. Beyond overt discrimination, multiple studies explain the gender pay gap in terms of women's higher participation in part-time work and long-term absences from the labor market due to care responsibilities, among other factors.


title: Gender pay gap

text: The extent to which discrimination plays a role in explaining gender wage disparities is somewhat difficult to quantify. A 2010 research review by the majority staff of the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee reported that studies have consistently found unexplained pay differences even after controlling for measurable factors that are assumed to influence earnings – suggestive of unknown/non-measurable contributing factors of which gender discrimination may be one. Other studies have found direct evidence of discrimination – for example, more jobs went to women when the applicant's sex was unknown during the hiring process.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle is a fictional character in Disney's 30th animated feature film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Voiced by actress and singer Paige O'Hara, Belle, the book-loving daughter of an eccentric inventor, yearns to abandon her predictable village life in return for adventure. When her father Maurice is imprisoned by a cold-hearted beast in an enchanted castle, Belle offers her own freedom in exchange for her father's, and gradually learns to love the Beast despite his outward appearance.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg commissioned "Beauty and the Beast" as an animated musical with a strong heroine, for which he hired first-time screenwriter Linda Woolverton. Basing her on the heroine of the 1740 fairy tale of the same name, Woolverton adapted Belle into a more proactive character for the film, deliberately conceiving her as a feminist to curtail criticisms Disney had long received for purportedly portraying female characters as victims. Inspired by the women's rights movement and actress Katharine Hepburn's performance in the film "Little Women" (1933), Woolverton created Belle as a unique departure from previous Disney heroines, particularly "The Little Mermaid"s Ariel. However, some story artists often contested Woolverton's liberated vision for the character. Animated by James Baxter and Mark Henn, the former of whom based the character's graceful gait on those of impressionist Edgar Degas' ballerinas, Belle's European facial features were inspired by those of British actresses Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn. Several additional Hollywood actresses inspired Belle's appearance, including Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor, and Grace Kelly. Disney auditioned 500 candidates for the role, before casting O'Hara based on her mature-sounding voice and Broadway experience.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle has garnered widespread acclaim from film critics who appreciated the character's bravery, intelligence, and independence. Reception towards her feminism, however, has been more mixed, with commentators accusing the character's actions of being romance-oriented. The fifth Disney Princess, Belle is often ranked among the franchise's best members. Highly regarded as one of Disney's strongest examples of a feminist character, critics agree that Belle helped spearhead a generation of independent film heroines while changing the reputation of a Disney princess. Also one of Disney's most iconic characters, Belle was the only animated heroine nominated for the American Film Institute's greatest heroes in film ranking. The character also appears in the film's several sequels and spin-offs, as well as her own live-action television series. American actress Susan Egan originated the role of Belle in the Broadway musical adaptation of the film, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Emma Watson played Belle in the 2017 live-action adaptation of the film.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Shortly after the success of Disney's first feature-length animated film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), Walt Disney himself had attempted to adapt the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale into one of the studio's earliest animated films several times, notably during the 1930s and 1950s. The project was continuously shelved due to the fairy tale's "static" main characters and plot, with Walt Disney expressing particular concern over depicting Belle's imprisonment. Inspired by the success of 1989's "The Little Mermaid", Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg green-lit another attempt at adapting the fairy tale under director Richard Purdum. However, Katzenberg was dissatisfied with Purdum's dark, somber interpretation, and ultimately ordered that the project be completely retooled into a Broadway-style musical film starring a strong heroine, similar to "The Little Mermaid". Largely in retaliation to critics' negative response towards "The Little Mermaid"'s Ariel regarding her overall character and motivations, Disney opted for a "feminist twist" on the original "Beauty and the Beast" story, with Katzenberg hiring first-time screenwriter Linda Woolverton to write its screenplay.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Disney traditionally portrayed its female characters as victims prior to "Beauty and the Beast", with Belle's lack of empowerment in earlier drafts of the film proving contentious among its writers. While the studio wanted "Beauty and the Beast" to resemble an old-fashioned film, the writers envisioned Belle as "a woman that was ahead of her time". As the first woman to write a feature-length animated film for Disney, Woolverton decided to use Belle as an opportunity to create a female character who would ultimately be better received than Disney's previous animated heroines, specially Ariel. Aware of the task's daunting nature due to the mermaid's popularity, Woolverton fought relentlessly to create "a new kind of Disney heroine". Inspired by the women's rights movement Woolverton herself had experienced, the screenwriter conceived Belle as a headstrong feminist to avoid creating another "insipid" Disney princess. Woolverton strongly believed contemporary audiences would not identify with Belle unless she was updated appropriately, and thus evolved the character into "a woman of the '90s". Refusing to watch Jean Cocteau's 1946 film adaptation of the fairy tale, Woolverton instead based Belle on actress Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Jo March in the 1933 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's book "Little Women". Similarly, story artist Brenda Chapman drew influence from Hepburn's on-screen bickering with actor Spencer Tracy for certain scenes with the Beast.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: "Beauty and the Beast"'s story department was predominantly male. Woolverton often argued with the more traditional story artists over Belle's role and personality, but continued to be supported by Katzenberg and lyricist Howard Ashman, the latter of whom also lobbied for "a thinker and a reader" who "wasn’t a victim". Woolverton claims the story team challenged virtually everything she wrote for the character, on one occasion replacing what Woolverton had scripted as Belle indicating where she wishes to travel on a map with the character baking a cake. Arguing that the liberated Belle would not even know how to bake, Woolverton compromised by having the character read a book instead, which ironically some writers considered too passive an activity. To resolve this, Woolverton ultimately scripted Belle walking while reading, an activity in which she herself partook in as a child. Despite constant re-writes she found "regressive", Woolverton's overall vision for Belle generally remained intact.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: In the original fairy tale, Belle has two selfish sisters who have their own love interests, all of whom Woolverton omitted to focus on Belle's dynamic with Gaston. The writer also eliminated the subplot surrounding Belle asking her father for a rose. Supporting characters from Purdum's treatment, such as Belle's younger sister Clarice and cruel Aunt Marguerite, were also discarded, the former to emphasize Belle's loneliness, and the latter replaced by Gaston as the film's villain. In Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's fairy tale, Belle is essentially forced to replace her father as the Beast's prisoner. To emphasize the character's independence, Woolverton re-wrote Belle to willingly venture to the castle in search of her father, where she confronts the Beast and ultimately trades her own freedom in return for Maurice's. To demonstrate that the character is not perfect, Woolverton described "a little wisp of hair that keeps falling in her face," which was the only direction she used to describe Belle's physical appearance. During Gaston's climactic fight with the Beast, the character's line "Time to die!", which had already been animated, was changed to "Belle is mine!" to refocus the story on Belle.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Disney auditioned approximately 500 actresses for the role of Belle. They originally considered re-hiring Ariel's voice actress Jodi Benson, but ultimately decided Benson sounded too young and American for the character they had envisioned. Favoring a "more classical ... womanly" tone, the filmmakers wanted Belle to sound closer to a woman than a girl, describing her ideal voice as reminiscent of actress Judy Garland. American actress and singer Paige O'Hara was working on Broadway when she first read about Disney's then-upcoming animated film "Beauty and the Beast" in "The New York Times". Upon learning that the studio was specifically scouting Broadway performers for the lead female role, O'Hara immediately booked an audition through her agent. Familiar with O'Hara's Broadway stint in the musical "Show Boat", Ashman had already been eyeing her for the role. O'Hara auditioned five times, first solely interviewing for casting director Albert Taveres. For her next two auditions, she was simply required to mail voice recordings to Disney's studio in Los Angeles, for which she sang "Heaven Help My Heart" from the musical "Chess". At her first legitimate in-person audition, O'Hara originally spoke and sang in a higher register than her own in an effort to mimic Snow White, but the filmmakers insisted that she use her own voice. In addition to Katzenberg and Ashman, O'Hara's last few auditions were attended by directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, producer Don Hahn, and composer Alan Menken. The songwriters initially listened with their eyes closed before finally watching her audition. An hour after her fifth and final audition, Disney telephoned O'Hara to inform her she had been cast as Belle, which happened to occur on her birthday. The actress was fairly confident she had secured the role before she had officially been cast, to which she credits Ashman's enjoyment of her vocal performance on the "Show Boat" cast recording.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Already 30 years-old by the time of her audition, O'Hara naturally imbued Belle's voice with a mature quality, despite her character's young age. Woolverton appreciated O'Hara for sounding more mature than traditional Disney heroines, while the quality of her voice reminded Wise of Garland. In addition to sharing Belle's love of reading, O'Hara empathized with her character's ostracization by her peers due to her unconventional interests, explaining, "I was into musical theater ... while people were going to Led Zeppelin concerts ... I had a one-track mind, and I think that Belle was like that a lot". The actress worked on the film on-and-off for over two years, and initially found it challenging to soften her voice during recording sessions due to having been trained to project as a stage actress. O'Hara and actor Robby Benson, voice of the Beast, sought permission from Disney to record in the same booth as opposed to separately, which the studio agreed to despite its costliness, ultimately becoming the first voice actors to do so for Disney. O'Hara credited the intimate recording sessions with helping Belle and the Beast's relationship sound more convincing. Although the actress would occasionally ad-lib her dialogue per the directors' encouragement, none of her improvisation was included in the final film because it sounded "too modern". Despite her successful stage career, O'Hara was virtually unknown to Hollywood audiences when she was cast in "Beauty and the Beast"; she was one of the last obscure actresses to be cast in a feature-length Disney animated film before the studio began casting better-known talent in subsequent animated projects.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Since the film's 1991 release, O'Hara has reprised the role in a variety of follow-up films, tie-in media, and merchandise, including its direct-to-video sequels "" (1997), "Belle's Magical World" (1998), and "Belle's Tales of Friendship" (1999); various video games such as the "Kingdom Hearts" series; and several music and video releases for the Disney Princess franchise. Additionally, O'Hara performed the song "Belle" at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992, where it had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2012, O'Hara described Disney as her "main employer for 20 years". In 2011, O'Hara was officially replaced by actress Julie Nathanson, who first voiced Belle in the video game "" (2011). O'Hara revealed to the "Las Vegas Review-Journal" that news of the replacement greatly upset her to the point of which she was willing to re-record much of Belle's dialogue in an attempt to prove to the company that she is still capable of voicing the character. However, O'Hara eventually admitted that she found the process quite difficult as a result of the way in which her voice has changed over the course of 20 years. O'Hara eventually returned to voice Belle in the film "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (2018).


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: According to producer Don Hahn, Beaumont's Belle is an "incredibly passive" character, the personality of whom he likened to those of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" (1959) and Cinderella, as well as American actress and animal rights activist Doris Day, describing them as women who are "capable, but filling a role that women might fill in the 1950s and 1960s.” The filmmakers painstakingly reworked Belle into a more three-dimensional character by providing her with goals and aspirations beyond romance and marriage, while expanding her passive role into that of a more inquisitive heroine. Determined to have Belle resemble "an unusual Disney heroine," Woolverton deliberately molded her into an independent character who is not a princess, enjoys books and has little interest in marriage, and worked closely with Ashman to create a proactive heroine "who was a thinker and a reader and she wasn't about what she looked like and she wasn't a victim." Although Belle being well-read is mentioned in the original fairy tale, it is hardly important to its plot. Thus, Belle's passion for reading was vastly expanded upon, borrowing from both the "Little Women" character Jo March and Woolverton's own love of reading to further demonstrate the character's intelligence and open mind. Both Woolverton and O'Hara encouraged the filmmakers to emphasize the intelligent and book-loving aspects of Belle's personality. However, at times the animators struggled to fulfill Woolverton's vision. Originally, Belle was depicted constantly crying throughout her imprisonment; Woolverton resented this, arguing that the character was much more likely to be either searching for an escape or simply "be intrigued that she was living in an enchanted castle" than crying. "Once everybody realized she wasn't going to be this typical Disney female, they would go to the extreme ... She became bitchy"; the screenwriter argued that Belle would be "too smart" to act this way. A few years older than "The Little Mermaid"s Ariel, Belle's love of reading makes the character more worldly and mature than her predecessor. Belle is believed by Henn to be "probably" the oldest of Disney's princesses. Although multiple sources have claimed the character is 17, Henn estimated Belle to be in her early 20’s. In an interview for Vanity Fair, Paige O’Hara stated that Belle was the only Disney princess to be in her 20’s.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle's supervising animators were James Baxter and Mark Henn. Wanting Belle to look significantly different from and more European than Ariel, the animators drew Belle with fuller lips, narrower eyes, and darker eyebrows, which were inspired by British actress Vivien Leigh. Appearing more statuesque than traditional Disney princesses, Belle was also inspired by Jennie Garth and Alyssa Milano. According to the "Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood "by Lincoln Geraghty, Belle was inspired by actress Judy Garland's role as Dorothy Gale in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and Julie Andrews' performance as Maria von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" (1965).


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle was Henn's second Disney heroine, after having previously worked on Ariel. He was specifically assigned to animate scenes from the studio's Florida division, and has since animated several Disney princesses since completing "Beauty and the Beast". Henn observed that, unlike Ariel, Belle does not "fall in love at first sight"; instead "there's an actual relationship you see grow". Henn decorated his studio with photographs of famous women, specifically Hollywood actresses Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn, for reference. Henn claims Belle's appearance started to form once O'Hara was cast and he heard her voice, from which point they married her performance with the designs they had already been conceiving. O'Hara found herself intimated by the photographs of "all these beautiful women", but animator Lorna Cook reassured her that they would reference her own photo as well. Henn hardly met O'Hara apart from rare occasions when he would travel to California for production meetings. Meanwhile, the animators dissuaded O'Hara from seeing drawings of the character until much later into production, encouraging the actress to simply let the animators draw her.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Baxter based his drawings on the work story artists Roger Allers and Brenda Chapman had already done for the character, deciding to draw Belle with a rounder face in addition to making her more European-looking. They decided the character should definitely be a brunette, a hair color Disney had seldom used since Snow White. Baxter studied the art of French impressionist Edgar Degas, a painter known for his portraits of ballerinas, whose work inspired the animator to incorporate "graceful, swan-like movements" into Belle's performance. Belle's ball gown was inspired by a similar costume Audrey Hepburn wore in "Roman Holiday" (1953). Hahn and a team of male filmmakers designed the gown while consuming pizza and alcohol. Originally, the marketing department ordered that Belle's dress be pink to cater to the female audience, but art director Brian McEntee convinced studio to make the dress gold in order to differentiate her from other Disney princesses, specifically Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty". McEntee also suggested that Belle be the only character in her village to wear blue, so as to emphasize the fact that she is different and an outcast. The colors Belle wears also mimic her emotions, blue being associated with sadness and loneliness. Blue was also used to symbolize good, while Gaston's red represents evil.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Animators videotaped O'Hara's recording sessions to capture her mannerisms, expressions, and gestures, such as her hair's tendency to fall into her face, which they incorporated into her character's drawings. O'Hara claims some of her family members immediately recognized O'Hara's physical traits in Belle upon watching the film for the first time. Actress and model Sherri Stoner served as the performance model for Belle, providing live-action reference for the animators as they drew the character. Belle's tendency to constantly brush her hair away from her face was also inspired by both Stoner and O'Hara. The animators also incorporated O'Hara's eyes, cheekbones and the way in which she raises her eyebrow into Belle's face. O'Hara felt that Belle originally looked "too perfect", comparing her to actress Angelina Jolie, although Jolie would not make her film debut until four year later. O'Hara initially feared children would not be able to relate to her until the animators made her appear less perfect. Writing for the "Los Angeles Times", Charles Solomon observed inconsistencies in Belle's appearance, stating, "The prettiest and liveliest Belle waltzes with Beast in his marble ballroom and weeps over his body before he's transformed into the Prince" while "The Belle who receives the library from Beast has wider-set eyes and a more prominent mouth than the noticeably slimmer Belle who sings 'Something There.'"


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Woolverton created Belle as part of "her self-directed mandate to move women and girls forward." "The Express-Times" described the character as an intelligent young woman who "sings songs about reading and wanting to gain knowledge, rather than falling in love." Woolverton credits Belle's knowledge and love of books with providing the character with a "point of view of her life and that doesn't necessarily involve a man getting her there." One of the film's main themes, Belle is considered an outsider because her love of reading provides her with knowledge of the outside world as opposed to her "narrow-minded" village peers. Writing for Wired.com, Matt Blum dubbed Belle "the geekiest heroine of any Disney animated film", exemplified by an opening number that demonstrates just how much she does not fit in with her peers due to her intelligence and active imagination. Similarly, "Boxoffice"s Amy Nicholson coined the character "Disney's Smartest Heroine," while Rob Burch of "The Hollywood News" observed that the character "comes across as arrogant at times" because she "spends much of the first act complaining." In her book "Sex, Love and Abuse: Discourses on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault", author Sharon Hayes described Belle as "the quintessential beautiful young ingénue." Comparing Belle's personality to that of the princess in the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "The Frog Prince," "The Meanings of "Beauty and the Beast": A Handbook" author Jerry Griswold described the character as a similarly "feisty and outspoken" heroine. Writing for St. Francis Xavier University, Dawn Elizabeth England observed that Belle possesses equally as many traditionally feminine as she does masculine traits, citing her bravery, independence and assertiveness as masculine, and her sensitivity and fearfulness as feminine. According to "Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era "author Susan Jeffords, "Belle's credentials as heroine are established ... when she is the only one of the town's single women not to swoon over Gaston," while the character's love of reading is essentially manipulated "to mark her as better than the rest of the townspeople." Writing for "The Statesman", David O'Connor cited Belle's intelligence and bibliophilia as "in stark opposition to the insensitive and significantly dim-witted Gaston." Critics continue to debate over whether Belle or the Beast is the film's protagonist. Susan Jeffords, author of "Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era", felt that although Belle appears to be the protagonist in Beaumont's original fairy tale, the character becomes "less the focus of the narrative" in Disney's adaptation and more of a "mechanism for solving the Beast's 'dilemma.'" In her article "The Tangled Evolution of the Disney Princess," Noelle Buffam felt that Belle arrived just in time when Disney's heroines were "in a dire need for some change," awarding her "the red stamp of approval" for her intelligence and spirit.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Analyzing ways in which Disney's heroines have evolved over time due to "the approach to the characterization of the princesses chang[ing]" as the characters gradually transformed from passive young women into heroines who "had ambitions and desires aside from finding true love," critics often divide the Disney Princesses into three separate categories and rank Belle among the middle of the timeline, with Kit Steinkellner of HelloGiggles.com observing that the character improved upon "the Disney princess archetype" by simultaneously serving as both a "dreamer" and a "doer" in her film, as opposed to exclusively the former. Film historian Paula Sigman Lowery explained to the "Daily Express" that Belle's personality is a combination of Ariel's spirit and burgeoning independence, and Pocahontas' maturity, while Belle is "a little older [than Ariel] and a little further along in their journey towards independence." About.com's David Nusair believes that Belle belongs to a category of Disney Princesses known as "The Lady Vanishes," in which the heroines, in spite of being brave, outspoken and independent, nonetheless "are forced to behave passively as others help them achieve their respective goals." Michelle Munro, writing for Durham College, felt that even though Belle shares several traits with her more passive predecessors, the character introduced "new possibilities for princesses." Girls in Capes wrote that Belle pioneered a generation of princesses who taught "about ambition, self-discovery and the pursuit of what we want." Additionally, Belle remains Disney's first and only princess to have hazel eyes.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle debuted in "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) as a beautiful bibliophile who, although praised by her fellow villagers for her unrivaled beauty, is at the same time ridiculed for her intelligence and non-conformity. Having grown weary of her uneventful provincial life, in which she is relentlessly romantically pursued by an arrogant hunter named Gaston, Belle longs for adventure. After her father's horse returns without its rider, she willingly ventures into the woods in search of her father. She persuades the Beast that she will trade her own freedom in return for her father's, since her father is ill in the dungeon, promising to remain with the Beast in his castle among his staff of enchanted objects forever. Belle's curiosity leads her to the forbidden west wing where she discovers an enchanted rose without realizing that it is tied to the Beast's fate; and the Beast's rage at her trespassing causes her to flee the castle on horseback. Belle is pursued by wolves in the woods but they are driven off by the Beast, afterwards Belle helps the injured Beast back to the castle and nurses him back to health. Although she initially dislikes her captor, Belle gradually learns to accept the Beast in spite of his appearance and eventually befriends him. Belle and the Beast's strong bond greatly envies Gaston to the point of which he storms the castle and mortally wounds the Beast, though Gaston falls to his own death in the process. However, Belle breaks down and confesses her love for the Beast just in time to break the spell under which he had been placed by an enchantress as punishment for his selfish ways, and the Beast ultimately transforms back into a handsome prince.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: In "" (1997), Belle attempts to reignite the castle's waning spirit by reintroducing and celebrating Christmas, in spite of the Beast's strong resentment towards the holiday. Meanwhile, a solemn pipe organ named Forte grows determined to sabotage Belle and the Beast's burgeoning friendship because he longs to maintain his co-dependent relationship with his master. Tricked by Forte into retrieving a large Christmas tree from a frozen pond, Belle nearly drowns, only to be rescued by the Beast. The Beast, however, having been misinformed by Forte, wrongly accuses Belle of trying to escape again, and locks her in the dungeon as punishment. When the Beast finally discovers the truth, they forgive each other, and Belle helps him thwart Forte's plan to destroy the castle. "Belle's Magical World" (1998), depicts Belle as she interacts with both the Beast and his enchanted servants in various segments, exploring themes such as forgiveness, friendship, cooperation and respect.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: In "Belle's Tales of Friendship" (1999), a spin-off of the film series, Belle owns a bookshop in which she teaches valuable lessons to children by reading and retelling well-known stories and fairy tales, narrating four Disney animated shorts: "The Three Little Pigs" (1933), "Peter and the Wolf" (1946), "The Wise Little Hen" (1934), and "Morris the Midget Moose" (1950). For the first time, Belle appears as both animated and live-action versions of herself, voiced and portrayed by actresses Paige O'Hara and Lynsey McLeod, respectively. In the television series "Sing Me a Story with Belle" (1995–97), Belle, in a role reprised by McLeod, runs her own music and bookshop, where she is visited by children to whom she tells and sings stories.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle appeared in the animated television series "House of Mouse" and its direct-to-video films "" and "Mickey's House of Villains". In the television series, Belle is voiced by American actress and singer Jodi Benson, while O'Hara reprised her role in "Magical Christmas".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: A live-action version of Belle appears as a main character in the ABC television series "Once Upon a Time", where she serves as the love interest of Rumplestiltskin (who is the show's version of the Beast). She is portrayed by Australian actress Emilie de Ravin. Another live-action version of the character appeared in the 2015 television film "Descendants", where she was played by Keegan Connor Tracy and serves as the Queen of the United States of Auradon, and along with Beast have a son called Ben. She return in the film's sequels "Descendants 2" (2017) and "Descendants 3" (2019). The series "Sofia the First" included a cameo by Belle in a 2013 episode. British actress Amy Jackson who portrayed as "Belle" opposite Indian actor Vikram, who being portrayed as "Beast" for sequences in a dreamy song ""Ennodu Nee Irundhal"" in the 2015 Tamil language romantic thriller "I". The original prosthetic make-up for the characters were provided by Sean Foot (Shaun) and Davina Lamont and additional works were done by National Film Award winners—Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: In January 2015, Emma Watson announced that she would be portraying Belle in a live-action version of the film, which was released in 2017. "Beauty and the Beast" was the first of the Disney remakes in which an A-list actress portrays a Disney princess. As a feminist and model, Watson suggested several changes to the character in the live-action film. For the costume design, Watson rejected the traditional "big princess dress" and corset for the golden gown as that would have reduced her mobility, with the gown seen as crucial for marketing the film, while for the village scenes she requested boots instead of ballet slippers to give the character more ruggedness. Nonetheless, Belle's attire in the live-action remake largely stays true to its animated predecessor.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Thanks to Watson's influence, Belle is not only a bookworm but also an inventor like her father – she uses her inventions for everyday chores such as laundry, which in turn provides her with time to pursue her passion for reading. It is also revealed that Belle's mother died of a disease plague during Belle's infancy, consequently Maurice is somewhat overprotective of Belle and does not allow her to leave the village. For instance, Maurice creates "music boxes playing tunes from faraway places, in a bid to sate her thirst for exploration", as he is unwilling to let Belle be adventurous due to her mother's death, although Belle harbors no hard feelings about this. Watson's portrayal of Belle won her the MTV Movie Award for Best Performance at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards. She also received nominations for the Empire Award for Best Actress, the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for "Favorite Movie Actress" and the Saturn Award for Best Actress.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle appeared in the Broadway musical adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast". The role was originated by actress Susan Egan, who was initially reluctant to audition for "Beauty and the Beast" because she "thought it was a terrible idea for Disney to put a cartoon on Broadway." However, her agent managed to convince her otherwise, and Egan ultimately turned down callbacks for roles in the musicals "My Fair Lady", "Carousel" and "Grease" in favor of starring as Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" because she had always wanted to originate a Broadway role. Egan had never watched "Beauty and the Beast" prior to her audition, relying solely on "her own creative instincts" instead. Egan's performance earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical at the 48th Tony Awards. A total of seventeen actresses have portrayed Belle in the Broadway musical, among them recording artists Debbie Gibson and Toni Braxton, "The Sopranos"' Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Disney Channel alumnae Christy Carlson Romano and Anneliese van der Pol, the latter of whom became Broadway's final Belle when the show ended its thirteen-year-long run in 2007. Actress Sarah Litzsinger remains Broadway's longest-running Belle.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: A best-selling R&B singer, Braxton made her Broadway debut when she was cast as Belle in 1998, turning down actress Halle Berry's role in the film "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" (1998). Braxton's desire to pursue an acting career stemmed from a series of conflicts with the singer's record label at the time, in turn making her the only African American to portray Belle in the show's history. Belle's ballad "A Change in Me" was written by songwriters Alan Menken and Tim Rice specifically for Braxton. However, the song was ultimately so well-received that it has been included in the musical ever since. During her tenure as Belle, Braxton was stalked by an "obsessed fan." The stalker had reportedly "bombarded" Braxton with threatening e-mails and letters. Several measures were taken to ensure the singer's safety, including forcing Braxton to dress in full disguise when traveling to and from the theatre in addition to reducing her total number of weekly performances from eight to seven. The stalker was eventually arrested and charged with "aggravated harassment."


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle, along with Beast and Chip, appeared at the 64th Academy Awards as presenters for Best Animated Short Feature. She also makes a brief cameo appearance in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996) during the "Out There" musical sequence.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: She was featured as one of the seven Princesses of Heart in the "Kingdom Hearts" video game series. She appears in the titles "Kingdom Hearts", "", "Kingdom Hearts II", "Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days", and "Kingdom Hearts χ".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle was also the main character in various comic books based on the film, including one set during Belle's stay at the castle published by Marvel Comics, and a prequel set several years before the film distributed by Disney Comics. In the former, the storylines generally have the servants trying to coax Belle into doing something with the Beast, only for it to backfire and nearly ruin their friendship before they make up. In the latter serial, Belle ends up locked up in a cellar by village children after reluctantly playing pirates with them, and later nearly goes down the path leading to Beast's castle. The latter serial also implies that she holds misandric views and refuses to associate herself with the village children, especially the males, due to their not being as well-versed in literature as she is.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle and the other characters from the first film appear in the stage show, "Beauty and the Beast" Live on Stage at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World. Belle, along with the Beast, appears in a meet-and-greet attraction at Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland called Enchanted Tales with Belle, along with meet-and-greets in all of the other parks worldwide. In season 18 of "Dancing With the Stars", Danica McKellar played Belle while performing a Quickstep on a Disney themed episode. Ginger Zee and Edyta Śliwińska also both portrayed Belle while performing a Foxtrot and Waltz respectively during the Disney night episode of the 22nd season of "Dancing with the Stars". Emma Slater then played Belle while dancing the Foxtrot during the Disney theme night of the show's 24th season.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle appears as a playable character to unlock for a limited time in the video game "Disney Magic Kingdoms".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle, alongside the other Disney Princesses, appeared in the film "Ralph Breaks the Internet", as was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo, with Paige O'Hara returning to the role after seven years.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: H.E.R. is set to portray Belle in a live-action/animation special "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration" that will air on ABC on December 15, 2022.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle has received largely positive reviews from film critics, who praised her bravery, intelligence, independence, and maturity. Jennie Punter of "The Globe and Mail" described Belle as a "smart, courageous ... 'take-charge kind of gal'", crowning her the film's "main attraction". Both Emma Cochrane of "Empire" and Annlee Ellingson of "Paste" enjoyed the character's feminism, with the former hailing Belle as "more rounded than previous Disney characters". According to Stephen Hunter of "The Baltimore Sun", Belle is "no passive fairy tale princess, but a real live girl, with a spunky personality and her own private agenda". A reviewer for "TV Guide" felt the film's familiar plot was improved by Belle's confidence and independence, concluding, "Unlike Disney heroines ... Belle is smart, knows what she wants, and doesn't spend her time pining away for the love of a handsome prince". Marc Bernardin of "Entertainment Weekly" dubbed Belle "the hero" of "Beauty and the Beast", while the same publication's Christian Blauvelt opined, "Unlike previous Disney heroines who needed to be rescued by a prince themselves, Belle not only saves the Beast's life, she saves his soul". TLC's Vicki Arkoff reviewed Belle a "smart" and "sharp-tongued", crediting the character with "break[ing] Disney's passive-princess mold". About.com's David Nusair described Belle as an "admirable" heroine. AllMovie's Don Kaye and Perry Seibert echoed each other's reviews of the character, with Kaye describing both Belle and the Beast as "three-dimensional ... complex individuals who defy stereotyping and change over the course of the story", and Seibert calling Belle a "strong female character" who "sidesteps most of the clichés surrounding Disney heroines". Common Sense Media hailed Belle as "one of Disney's smartest, most independent heroines".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Several critics also voiced their preference for the character over her immediate predecessor, Ariel. Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" described Belle as a "compelling" character who is "more mature, more womanly and less blandly asexual" than Ariel, as well as "a more worldly girl", describing her as "a bookworm, with gumption and a mind of her own". Similarly comparing Belle to Ariel, John Hartl of "The Seattle Times" wrote that, in "Beauty and the Beast", "there's rarely a sense of déjà vu, perhaps because the heroine is so different from 'Mermaid's' dependent Ariel, and her dilemma is more poignant", while "Boxoffice" scribed, "Undoubtedly in response to criticism that the cute little 'Mermaid' Ariel was nothing more than a precocious sexpot, the idea-people behind this beauty—aptly named Belle ... chose to make her an icon of self-reliance and a voracious reader with a curiosity and love for everything around her".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Meanwhile, Belle's relationship with the Beast has also been met with positive reviews. About.com's David Nusair wrote that "the palpable chemistry between Belle and The Beast ensur[es] that "Beauty and the Beast" lives up to its reputation as one of the most memorable romances of all time." Describing it as an "unconventional romance," Charles Solomon of the "Los Angeles Times" opined, "The idea of a young woman learning to love a gentle heart hidden beneath a baleful exterior represented a major break with tradition." Likewise, critics enjoyed O'Hara's performance. According to "Variety", Belle was "magnificently voiced by O’Hara." "The Star-Ledger"'s Stephen Whitty enjoyed O'Hara's "pretty soprano." John Hartl of "The Seattle Times" wrote, "O'Hara does a spirited job of investing the character with warmth, intuition and maturity," while the "Sun-Sentinel"'s Candice Russel felt that O'Hara "does a good job of creating Belle as intellectual, wisely feminine and disarmed by the stirrings of her heart."


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: One of the character's few negative reviews was written by Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity, who opined:


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Emma Watson's portrayal as Belle in the 2017 film was generally well received by critics. A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote that Watson "perfectly embodies Belle’s compassion and intelligence." "The Washington Post"s Ann Hornaday complimented Watson's performance, describing it as "alert and solemn" while noting her singing ability as "serviceable enough to get the job done." Richard Roeper of "Chicago Sun-Times" also lauded Watson's performance writing that she "is all pluck and spunk and sass and smarts and fierce independence as Belle." Stephen Whitty of the New York "Daily News" described Watson's portrayal of Belle as "breakthrough." While Tim Robey of "The Daily Telegraph" did not find Watson to be "a flawless Belle," he did overall say that "she’s good: that girl-next-door winsomeness and a sweet, clear singing voice see her through." He also remarked her portrayal of Belle as "dazzles" and "ideal." For her performance as Belle, Watson won the MTV Movie Award for Best Performance as well as the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Sci-Fi/Fantasy. She also received nominations for the Empire Award for Best Actress, the Saturn Award for Best Actress, and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Feminist critics have argued both for and against whether Belle should be considered a positive depiction of a feminist character, "with" Disney affirmatively promoting the character as a feminist since 1991. "Jezebel" determined that Belle "is often held up as the standard of the 'feminist' Disney princess". According to "Tales, Then and Now: More Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults" author Anna E. Altmann, Disney heavily promoted "Beauty and the Beast" as "a feminist fairy tale" due to Belle's characterization and role in the film. In his book "Hearing a Film, Seeing a Sermon: Preaching and Popular Movies", author Timothy B. Cargal agreed that the character indicated "Disney's ... continued efforts to reshape their heroines for a more feminist age." According to "Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia" author Claudia Mitchell, Belle's feminism was influenced by third-wave feminism and the relatively new concept of Girl power during the 1990s. Critics have been generally mixed in their analyses of Belle, arguing over whether or not the character is in fact "feminist enough". Although "Beauty and the Beast" was initially lauded upon release for starring a "forward thinking and feminist" heroine, critics tend to agree that, in spite of Belle's independence and resentment towards Gaston, "Beauty and the Beast" essentially remains a romance about a girl who finally "meets her ideal man." Acknowledging that Belle "represented significant change from [her] sweet, mop-wielding predecessors," "Twilight and History" author Nancy Reagin observed that "the end result of fulfillment through marriage has been maintained." Kathleen Maher of "The Austin Chronicle" cited Belle as an example of "pseudo-feminism" because she rejects one man, Gaston, in favor of another, a prince. While commending Belle for "seeing past the beast's appearance," Judith Welikala of "The Independent" in the end accused the character of "melting back into the role of wife when he turns back into a handsome prince." "Fairy Tale" author Andrew Teverson referred to Belle as Disney's attempt to address "feminist criticism of its representation of women in earlier films," but ultimately criticized the character's curiosity for "extend[ing] only to romance," additionally accusing her of being "a zealous individualist with a pathological hostility to common men and women". Meanwhile, "Stylist" ranked Belle among the most feminist Disney characters, describing her as an "incredibly intelligent" woman who "doesn't stand for a man who considers her as just a piece of meat ... she wants someone who loves her for her mind too." Acknowledging the character's "feminist longings," Daniel Eigen, author of "America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry", cited Belle as Disney's "modern-day corrective to Snow White." "Beyond Adaptation: Essays on Radical Transformations of Original Works" author Phyllis Frus wrote that, initially, "Beauty and the Beast" does not seem "remotely feminist." However, the author did acknowledge Belle as "an appealing character with a noticeable feminist streak," but in the end criticized Disney's Consumer Products of reversing what the film had nearly accomplished by inducting the character into the Disney Princess franchise. In Refinery29's "Definitive Ranking Of Disney Princesses As Feminist Role Models," author Vanessa Golembewski ranked the character eighth but described her personality and ambitions as "confusing." "Complex"s Tara Aquino described Belle as "a kinda feminist ... who's well-read, self-sufficient, and with standards high enough that she doesn't fall for the town's brain-dead pretty boy."


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Commentators have generally reacted more cynically towards Belle's relationship with the film's male characters, particularly the Beast, questioning its morality. Writing for the University of Central Florida, Faith Dickens felt that after Belle's introduction, the character becomes little more than "a vehicle for exploring the Beast's dilemmas," while her initial pining for adventure is replaced by romance. Dickens went on to criticize the fact that while Belle appears to be "perfect the way she is," the Beast "need[s] to be reformed." Anna E. Altmann, author of "Tales, Then and Now: More Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults", disliked the fact that Belle appears to share a motherly relationship with both the Beast and Maurice. Altman also panned the fact that Belle's interest in reading appears to be limited to fairy tales, ultimately dismissing the character as little more than "a feisty North American version of" Beaumont's heroine. "Orange Coast" writer Henry A. Giroux felt that Belle serves as little more than "a prop for resolving the Beast's problems." Sonia Saraiya of "Nerve" ranked Belle the sixth-most feminist Disney Princess, writing that, unlike Ariel, "Belle's sass doesn't come from teenage rebellion, but rather from intellectual acuity." Saraiya commended Belle for resisting "her village's expectations of what her life should look like," crediting her with being "the first princess to express some skepticism about married life." While calling Belle's sacrifice "brave," the author also labeled it "not much of a step for womankind," in the end accusing her of falling "for a domineering man." Similarly, Kit Steinkellner of HelloGiggles.com expressed concern over the "abusive undercurrents running through Belle and Beast’s relationship." Meanwhile, Bustle's Mary Grace Garis also commended Belle's aspirations and love of reading, but criticized her relationship with the Beast, concluding, "Though the ’90s showed a move toward princesses wanting to buck conventions and free themselves from their fathers (or the town misogynist) the endgame is the still the same, elaborating, "When the movie ends, they’re still solidly with a man, their dreams of adventure abandoned. Therefore, the Disney renaissance is characterized more by theoretical want of adventure rather than a genuine pursuit."


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Deemed an "iconoclast" by "Boxoffice Pro", Belle has been established as a cultural icon for her role in "Beauty and the Beast". According to "Time" and "Harper's Bazaar", the character holds the distinction of being Disney's first feminist princess. Commentators believe the character's reputation as one of Disney's first strong female characters is responsible for changing the way in which women would be depicted in subsequent animated films. According to Kevin Fallon of "The Daily Beast", before Belle "being a Disney princess meant singing songs about how much you love combing your hair with a fork and giving away your voice if it meant you got to marry the guy with that dreamy chiseled jaw." Charles Solomon of the "Los Angeles Times" considers Belle to be among four Disney Princesses responsible for breaking "the bonds of convention". About.com's David Nusair agreed that Belle successfully "updated the princess formula for an entirely new generation". "The Atlantic"'s Lindsay Lowe echoed Nusair's sentiment, citing Belle as the character responsible for ending Disney's "history of ... docile heroines". Cathy Schmidt of "The Daily Campus" recognized Belle and Ariel as "the beginnings of the more modern Disney princesses". Writing for Virgin Media, Limara Salt believes that the character "proved that audiences could fall in love with a brown-haired intellectual". A survey conducted by Disney after the film's release determined that Belle's love of books inspired young women to read. Justin Humphreys of "The Hook" expressed, "Belle remains a most successful princess because people can relate" to her. Elina Bolokhova of "Parenting" believes that Belle's "bravery and independence helped redefine the meaning of a Disney princess".


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle is the fifth member of the Disney Princess franchise, and one of its most popular and celebrated characters. According to Justine McGrath of "Teen Vogue", Belle has "become one of the most popular classic Disney princesses of all time". According to a 2020 poll conducted by PlayLikeMum, as reported by "Marie Claire", Belle was voted the most popular Disney Princess in nine countries. Commending her intelligence and humility, the character was placed at number one on E!'s ranking of the Disney Princesses, while "Cosmopolitan" ranked her fourth. In the magazine's "Definitive Ranking Of Disney Princesses", "Seventeen" ranked Belle fifth. Similarly, BuzzFeed also ranked the character fifth, praising her love of reading. A reader poll conducted by BuzzFeed also determined that Belle is the most popular Disney Princess, having garnered 18% of votes. A similar poll conducted by ComingSoon.net also ranked Belle as the best Disney Princess, with 17% of the vote. Belle is the fifth most successful Disney Princess in terms of box office revenue, with "Beauty and the Beast" having grossed over $350 million. However, Belle was the lowest-selling Disney Princess on eBay in 2013, with sales of less than $7,000 despite the fact that she is often cited as a customer favorite.


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle is considered to be one of Disney's most beloved animated heroines and princesses. Chhavi Puri of Pinkvilla reported that Belle "is often regarded as one of the best female Disney characters". "Business Insider" readers voted Belle the 15th most iconic female film character of all-time. In 2016, Scott Huver of "People" said the character's "popularity remains a force to be reckoned with" over 25 years after the film's release. Belle was the only animated heroine nominated for the American Film Institute's greatest film heroes ranking, from which only eight female characters were included on the final list. CNN ranked Belle one of Disney's greatest heroines. According to the "Daily Mirror", Belle is Disney's second most iconic character, behind only Mickey and Minnie Mouse, describing her as a "portrait of bravery, teaching us to look beyond appearances and stand up for what we believe in". Meanwhile, "PopMatters" ranked Belle Disney's second best hero. Considered to be both a sex symbol and fashion icon, the character was ranked 64th on UGO's list of the most attractive female cartoon characters, while being ranked 14th on "Complex"'s "25 Hottest Cartoon Women of All Time". E! ranked Belle the second best-dressed Disney Princess, crowning her "the most couture of all the Disney princesses". Belle's golden ball gown is widely considered to be one of the most famous dresses in film history. Belle appeared on "Stylist"'s list of the "Best beauty looks in Disney" twice, both for the character's hairstyles. , "Entertainment Weekly" ranked Belle's hair seventh in the magazine's "Disney Princesses: Ranking Their Hairdos – and Don'ts!"


title: Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

text: Belle helped establish Woolverton as a prolific screenwriter, who has since been commended for her dedication to creating strong female characters. Ever since Belle, the majority of Woolverton's female characters have been headstrong, independent women, namely Nala from "The Lion King" (1994), Mulan from "Mulan" (1998), Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), and Maleficent from "Maleficent" (2014). Susan Wloszczyna of IndieWire wrote that Woolverton's Belle "set a new standard for fully fleshed-out fairy-tale heroines", in turn paving the way for Katniss Everdeen from "The Hunger Games" series, and Anna and Elsa from "Frozen" (2013). Woolverton remains protective of Belle, explaining, "[she] was my first-born child, so there’s a little bit of possessiveness, which really I had to let it go". In "Beauty and the Beast", Belle performs the film's opening number, "Belle," which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992. In 1998, O'Hara was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production for reprising her role as Belle in the second of "Beauty and the Beast"'s three direct-to-video sequels, "Belle's Magical World". To commemorate her work on "Beauty and the Beast" and various contributions to Disney, O'Hara was honored with a Disney Legends award on August 19, 2011. Disney hired Spanish actress Penélope Cruz to pose as Belle in photographer Annie Leibovitz's Disney Dream Portrait Series.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Brett Mason Rudolph III (born July 17, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oklahoma State, where he was a three-year starter and won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award during his last year. He was selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Rudolph spent the 2018 season as the Steelers' third-string quarterback and saw no game action in the regular season. He saw starting action in 2019 after Ben Roethlisberger was injured early in the season. He would alternate starts with Devlin Hodges throughout the season.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Rudolph was named after his father and grandfather; he is not related to the former golfer Mason Rudolph. He attended Westminster Catawba Christian School before transferring to Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. During his career he passed for 10,986 yards and 132 passing touchdowns. During his senior season, he accounted for 80 total touchdowns and threw for 4,400 yards as he led the Trojans to a 15–0 record, 4A State Championship and #7 national ranking. He played in the Annual Shrine Bowl All-Star game was named the offensive MVP as he led South Carolina on a game-winning drive in the final 20 seconds. He was a finalist for South Carolina's "Mr Football" award. Rudolph was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the ninth-best pro-style quarterback in his class. He committed to Oklahoma State University to play college football.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Rudolph entered his true freshman season in 2014 as a third string behind J. W. Walsh and Daxx Garman. After Walsh was injured, Garman became the starter with Rudolph as his backup. After Garman was injured, Rudolph started his first career game against Baylor. During the game, he completed 13 of 25 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Rudolph remained the starter for the final two games, including the 2015 Cactus Bowl victory against Washington. In three games total, he completed 49 of 86 passes for 853 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Rudolph is the winner of the 2017 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually to the country's outstanding senior college quarterback.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Rudolph attended the NFL Scouting Combine and completed the majority of combine drills, but opted to skip the bench press, broad jump, short shuttle, and three-cone drill. On March 15, 2018, he participated at Oklahoma State's pro day and completed the three-cone drill, short shuttle, broad jump, and ran passing drills. He met with scouts and team representatives from the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and Los Angeles Chargers privately after completing his pro day. He attended private workout and visits with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and Los Angeles Chargers. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Rudolph was projected to be a second round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the sixth best quarterback prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com, Scouts Inc., and Sports Illustrated.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Rudolph in the third round (76th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. The Steelers traded their third-round (79th overall) and seventh-round (220th overall) picks to the Seattle Seahawks in order to move up three spots and select Rudolph with the 76th overall pick. Rudolph was the sixth quarterback selected in 2018.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: On May 23, 2018, the Steelers signed Rudolph to a four-year, $3.92 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $932,264.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: Throughout training camp, Rudolph competed against Landry Jones and Joshua Dobbs for the backup spot behind Ben Roethlisberger. Head coach Mike Tomlin ultimately named Rudolph the third quarterback, as Jones was released. Rudolph did not receive a single snap in the 2018 season.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: During the preseason, Rudolph was named the second quarterback behind Roethlisberger, eclipsing Dobbs after multiple successful preseason performances.


title: Mason Rudolph (American football)

text: During Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, Rudolph relieved an injured Roethlisberger in the second half and threw for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Steelers narrowly lost by a score of 26–28. Following the announcement that Roethlisberger would miss the rest of the season due to season-ending elbow surgery, Rudolph became the Steelers' starting quarterback. Rudolph made his first NFL start in Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers. He threw for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in the 24-20 road loss. In the next game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Rudolph recorded his first win as a starter with 229 passing yards and two touchdowns in the 27–3 victory. The following week against the Baltimore Ravens, he suffered a concussion after being hit by Ravens safety Earl Thomas and was temporarily knocked unconscious, being relieved by Steelers third-string quarterback Devlin Hodges. Rudolph was cleared from concussion protocol on October 16, 2019. He returned to face the Miami Dolphins and threw for 251 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in the 27–14 victory.