Jessica Chastain thinks Hollywood needs to impose "quotas" to address the gender imbalance

She said: "There are self-imposed quotas we should be employing in the industry.

"Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has 50% women in his cabinet. When they asked why,he said it was because it was 2015. Or the screenwriter and producer Ryan Murphy; half of his directors are women.

"I've given myself one too, to work with a female filmmaker every year. And I'm going to continue doing that until I see real change. We have to make quotas for ourselves."

And Jessica, whose new movie 'Woman Walks Ahead' details the real life encounter between a white artist and a Native Mexican, thinks other minority groups need to be pushed into the spotlight.

She told Grazia magazine: "I want movies about Asian-American actors, I want to see a film directed by an indigenous woman. What can I do for indigenous women? Because they really are the most ignored.

The 40-year-old actress was reluctant to speak out about sexism when she was younger, but has no such concerns now.

She said: " At the start of your career as an actress, you're too afraid to say anything because you're afraid to rock the boat.

"But once I started working I could see the same behaviour happening to other people. I found I was quicker to say, 'that is not good, don't do that.'"