Halle Berry encourages her son Maceo, 7, to challenge gender stereotypes

Halle Berry encourages her son Maceo, 7, to challenge gender stereotypes so that he ‘doesn’t feel superior to women’

Halle Berry encourages her seven-year-old son Maceo to challenge gender stereotypes – and has done since he was five.

The Oscar-winning actress, 54, shares Maceo with Olivier Martinez and said: ‘I have realised what my job is in raising him. If we want to have a future that’s different, that is where it starts.

‘You made me think of how many conversations I’ve had with him, say, since he’s turned five years old, about the differences in boys and girls, and I see how he’s taught to feel like he’s superior, at five, than girls are.

Lessons: Halle Berry encourages her seven-year-old son Maceo to challenge gender stereotypes – and has done since he was five

‘I’ve had to really break that down for him and give him a new perspective, and challenge those thoughts and ask him to identify where that comes from, and if he believes that or not and challenge what he’s subconsciously getting from somewhere.

‘I can tell that because we’re having those conversations he is going to grow as a deep thinker on the subject. He’s going to be determined not to just accept it.’

Halle was speaking at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s panel titled Women Breaking Barriers: An Industry Shift as part of the Sundance Film Festival. 

Equality: She admitted it's 'heartbreaking' that she's still the only woman of colour to win the Best Actress Oscar [pictured accepting the gong in 2002]

Equality: She admitted it’s ‘heartbreaking’ that she’s still the only woman of colour to win the Best Actress Oscar [pictured accepting the gong in 2002]

Speaking virtually, she went on: ‘I keep challenging him all the time, like “Well, why is that a ‘girl colour?'”

Halle also revealed she discusses the issue of sexism with both of her children – she shares daughter Nahla, 12, with Gabriel Aubry.

She spoke about how women of color are fighting for equality in Hollywood in the wake of major social movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

The movie star - who won the coveted gong for her performance in Monster's Ball [pictured] - said: 'The heartbreak I have is because I really thought that night meant that very soon after that, other women of colour, black women, would stand beside me'

The movie star – who won the coveted gong for her performance in Monster’s Ball [pictured] – said: ‘The heartbreak I have is because I really thought that night meant that very soon after that, other women of colour, black women, would stand beside me’

She admitted it’s ‘heartbreaking’ that she’s still the only woman of colour to win the Best Actress Oscar.

The movie star – who won the coveted gong in 2002 for her performance in Monster’s Ball – said: ‘The heartbreak I have is because I really thought that night meant that very soon after that, other women of colour, black women, would stand beside me.

‘Now it’s been 20 years and no one has, and so every time Oscar time comes around, I get very reflective and I think, “Well maybe this year, maybe this year.”

‘It has become heartbreaking that no one else has stood there.’