Michelle Williams received a standing ovation for her moving acceptance speech about equal pay when she picked up the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her leading role in biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon.

Hailing her win “an acknowledgement of what is possible when a woman is trusted to discern her own needs, feel safe enough to voice them, and respected enough that they’ll be heard,” Williams thanked her producers for accommodating her interpretation of dancer Gwen Verdon.

“So thank you so much to FX and Fox 21 Studios for supporting me completely and paying me equally. Because they understood that when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value. And then where do they put that value? They put it into their work.

Williams finished by demanding change for women in Hollywood who have suffered workplace inequality in the film and television industries.

“The next time a woman, and especially a woman of colour - because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart - tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her, believe her. Because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.”

Emmy Awards 2019: All the most inspiring speeches from the Emmys