While it s exciting to see a great television show finally make its way back to the small screen, it s disappointing to realize another aspect of old school TV was also rebooted. While David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are both equal partners on The X-Files, as it turns out, when Anderson was approached for the reboot she was offered half as much money as her costar. So much for equal pay for equal work. Apparently, having an extra appendage in between your legs makes you somehow more valuable.The characters Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson) go together like peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots, Bert and Ernie. You wouldn t pay Ernie less than Bert, would you? Well, of course not. They re both male, and puppets   we re getting off track.Here s the thing, back in the 90s, when The X-Files was originally airing on television, Anderson worked hard to make sure she was paid equally as much as her costar. When asked about the current pay disparity, Anderson said: I m surprised that more [interviewers] haven t brought that up because it s the truth. Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it s important that it gets heard and voiced. It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it. Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me,  I can t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane.  And my response always was,  That was then, this is now.  And then it happened again! I don t even know what to say about it. It is  sad. According to the Hollywood Reporter, both Anderson and Duchovny were paid the same in the end, but the fact that they weren t from the get-go is, well, sad, as Anderson said.Unless a show features a strong male lead and other female actresses are quite obviously supporting roles, co-leads, regardless of gender, should be paid the same. They both bring the same amount of talent and equity to their performances and the show s success.This is still a battle not only women in Hollywood have to continually face, but women in every profession nationwide. So, while some conservatives like to tout that  women are already equal    actually, no, they re not  at all. It s important now, more than ever, to make sure we elect into the White House another person with the ideal of making sure equal pay for equal work happens once and for all. It s time. In fact, it s far past time. We need another liberal in the White House.Featured image: YouTube screengrab