It's been a big year for Charlize Theron.

The South African actress, who has long been outspoken on issues of women's empowerment, turns 40 on August 7th. She's been widely lauded for her kickass, gender role-defying turn as Imperator Furiosa in 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road," for which she shaved her head, underwent intense physical training, and spent months living in a remote part of Namibia. And in recent interviews, she's been dropping some serious truth bombs about feminism, representation of women in Hollywood and equal pay.

Here are six of her most awesome feminist moments from the past year:
When the Sony hack revealed how unequal pay is for men and women in Hollywood, Theron reportedly insisted that she be paid the same salary as her male co-star Chris Hemsworth for their upcoming film, "The Huntsman."


In a June 2015 interview with ELLE UK, Theron explained why feminism is crucial to closing the gender pay gap -- and why we need to teach young girls what feminism really means.

"This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing," Theron said. "It doesn’t mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you’re doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way."