LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor-director Barbra Streisand believes women are more powerful than their male counterparts.
The 75-year-old actor, who is considered a torchbearer in women rights movement in Hollywood throughout her 57-year long career, said she has written a line in one of her works that boils down to - that females are giving men "the benefit of the doubt that we're equal".
"I have a line in one of my journals. It was actually about how we're giving you (nodding to her male interviewer) the benefit of the doubt that we're equal. I think women are more powerful than men," Streisand told The Hollywood Reporter.
In 1977, the actor became the first female composer to win a Best Song Oscar, for 'Evergreen' from "A Star Is Born".
She was ignored in the Best Director category even though her 1991 drama "The Prince of Tides" received seven nominations, including Best Picture.
Only five women have ever been nominated in the category, with Greta Gerwig being the only woman filmmaker to have received the nod this year for "Lady Bird".
Streisand says she is disappointed that Dee Rees ("Mudbound") and Patty Jenkins ("Wonder Woman") did not receive nominations in the segment.