Promoting Suffragette, Meryl Streep spoke about her efforts for women’s equality, and about the need for more female movie critics.

Meryl Streep took part in a press conference for Suffragette this morning in London, and was asked to address the backlash against her following a recent interview with The Guardian, in which she pronounced herself not a feminist, but a humanist.

“There’s a phrase in this film that says, ‘deeds, not words.’ And that’s sort of where I stand on that,” Streep said. “I let the actions of my life stand for what I am as a human being. Contend with that. It’s not the words.”

Related: Meryl Streep fights for gender equality like a true Suffragette

And certainly, Streep has a lot of action to her name. Not only did she personally write to all members of congress to demand that they revive the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), but she also launched her own screenwriters’ programme for women over 40, which she said will accept new talents every year.

But while action is important, we have to acknowledge that sometimes it is about words — specifically, Streep used her words to call out the Vatican for being one of the only countries in the world where women do not yet have the right to vote!

Meryl Streep calls for more female film critics

When it comes from equality in the film industry, we don’t just need equality behind and in front of the camera. Streep took the time to call out the entertainment journalism industry, specifically Rotten Tomatoes, on their gender bias.

“I’m always thinking, what makes buzz? What controls that?” she said. “In the United States, when people go to find a movie to watch, they go to something called Rotten Tomatoes. So I went deep, deep, deep, deep into Rotten Tomatoes.”

That’s right, Meryl did the research! She found that of the critics are allowed to rate on the tomato meter there are 168 women, against 760 men.

“I submit to you that men are women are not the same,” Streep said. “They like different things. Sometimes they like the same things. But sometimes their tastes diverge. If the tomato meter is slighted so completely to one set of tastes, that drives box offices.”

“The word isn’t disheartening, it is infuriating. … Cause it isn’t fair. So we need inclusion. It has to be equal.”

Streep’s insistence that the ratio of film critics need to be equal is particularly important in light of a comment she made earlier in the press conference. Said Streep, “There is no such thing as history. There’s history women have been shut out of.”

Similarly to how male historians have dictated what parts of history matters, it is predominantly male film critics who are telling us what movies are important.

Suffragette highlights a piece of history which hasn’t been given the attention it deserves. Now it’s up to reviewers to follow Streep’s lead and help spread that all-important buzz.

The European premiere of Suffragette is tonight, and the stars will walk the red carpet at the BFI London Film Festival. Hypable will be there, so look for more news later!