Here’s another name for the Strong Women of Hollywood list.  Meryl Streep — somewhere in the midst of filming, winning Academy Awards, and being generally flawless — has found time to write to the US Congress on behalf of women.

Earlier this year, Streep penned 535 letters to Congress — one for every member — encouraging them to revive the Equal Rights Amendment, which would, among other protections, ensure equal pay for equal work within the United States.  The Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972, but it was only ratified by 35 states — just shy of the 38 required to make it official within the US Constitution.

Along with each of the letters, Streep also included a book for their reading pleasure. How did it go over with the Congressmen and -women she approached? Streep says:

I sent them each a book called Equal Means Equal by Jessica Neuwirth. It’s about the revival of the attempt to get an ERA that would codify in law that you can’t discriminate against women. I got five answers.

Five?! Five answers?!  Fewer than one in one hundred members of Congress bothered to even reply to a national treasure on a topic that impacts more than half the American population. 

Streep isn’t going to let this less-than-lukewarm response get her down, though.  She will continue to use her fame to urge people with power to help those without it.  She has also implored Pope Francis to consider women’s inequality:

He must address issues of inequality. The conversation changes when women are at the table.

What a name to have on the feminist rosters, Poppies! What do you think about Meryl Streep’s activism?