Patricia Arquette's impassioned Oscars acceptance speech demands 'wage equality and equal rights for women'

Arquette won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Boyhood

Patricia Arquette making her acceptance speech for winning Best Actress Award (Getty Images)

Patricia Arquette took the stage at the 2015 Academy Awards to accept her Oscar and took the opportunity to speak out on equal pay for women.

"To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America," Arquette said in her speech.

Below is Meryl Streep's reaction to Arquette's words.

Arquette won the Oscar for her role in Boyhood, a victory that was 12 years in the making.

Arquette was filmed over a period of 12 years, from the ages of 33 to 45, for Boyhood, in which she plays the mother of Mason. The film follows Mason from the age of 5, documenting the trials of growing up. The film was directed by Richard Linklater.

Read more: Ethan Hawke interview: Boyhood star on having a midlife crisis
Photographer Matt Lanke's portraits of the cast of Boyhood
Boyhood - film review

The Oscar is the fourth major award Arquette has won for her performance in Boyhood, as she also claimed the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild award and the Bafta.

Arquette beat Laura Dern (Wild), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Emma Stone (Birdman) and Meryl Streep (Into the Woods) to claim the Oscar.