BEIJING, Oct.9 (Xinhuanet) --In making a film about women's rights in 1920s Britain, actress Meryl Streep is also shining a spotlight on women's rights today in the realms of Politics, Religion, and even movie-making itself!

Meryl Streep just isn't into labels.

After declaring herself a "humanist" and not a feminist in an interview last week, the actress was asked to expand on her stance at the "Suffragette" press conference in London Wednesday. But the Oscar winner prefers to let actions speak for themselves.

"There's a phrase in this film that says 'deeds not words' and that's sort of where I stand on that. I let the actions of my life stand for what I am as a human being and contend with that, not the words. That's what I say," Streep said.

Streep plays historical figure Emmeline Pankhurst, who led the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom in the 1920s. She says there is a still strong need to call for gender equality.

"The lack of inclusion in the decision-making bodies in every single enterprise in the world, whether it's what to do with refugees, why the people making those decisions aren't half women, what to do about it. I mean the Church is a body that excludes - there are two places where you can't vote in the world: Saudi Arabia, although they're registering people supposedly; and the Vatican. That seems wrong to me," Streep said.

Scriptwriter Abi Morgan echoes the sentiment, noting how difficult it was to find actors for the film's male roles.

"It was really difficult because we kept on getting the calls from agents saying the parts weren't big enough for the men. So it's a huge tribute to Brendan Gleeson and Ben Wishaw and Sam West and Finbar Lynch that they took on these parts," Morgan said.

British star Carey Mulligan, who portrays fictional feminist Maud Watts, says she's not sure she would have the same courage as the suffragettes to fight for her rights.

"One of the most shocking things to me was suffragettes who went into the museum and slashed famous works of art, and I think that is just - they did lots of big protests, but that just seems so terrifying, to have the guts to do that. We fight for more equality but we also fight for the people who aren't in our position. And so I don't know if I would throw rocks for myself. I would like to think that I would throw rocks for somebody else," Mulligan said.

The movie also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Romola Garai, and Anne-Marie Duff. Directed by Sarah Gavron, "Suffragette" is kick-starting the London Film Festival and comes out in U.K. cinemas on the 12th of October.

(Source: CNTV.cn)