A group of 300 powerful Hollywood women launched an anti-sexual harassment initiative on Monday. The effort is billed as an expansion of the “Me Too” movement, in which women are speaking out against sexual misconduct claims by men at high levels of entertainment, government and media.
The initiative, called Time’s Up, brings together “prominent actresses and female agents, writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives” to fight fight systemic gender inequality in both Hollywood and “blue-collar workplaces” nationwide, according to The New York Times. Its founding members include actresses America Ferrera, Natalie Portman, Rashida Jones, Emma Stone, Ashley Judd, Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, and Reese Witherspoon; lawyer Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff; co-chairwoman of the Nike Foundation, Maria Eitel; and various other showrunners and industry lawyers.
In a letter on Monday — published as a full-page ad in both the Times and the Spanish-language paper La Opinion — the group’s leading members explained that such inequality “fosters an environment that is ripe for abuse and harassment” that can no longer be ignored.
“Unfortunately, too many centers of power — from legislatures to boardrooms to executive suites and management to academia — lack gender parity and women do not have equal decision-making authority,” they wrote. “…The struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard and acknowledged in male-dominated workplaces must end; time’s up on this impenetrable monopoly.”
The group called for a “significant increase of women in positions of leadership and power” across various industries, “equal representation, opportunity, benefits, and pay”, and “greater representation” for women of color, immigrant women, and LGBTQ women.
Time’s Up has also established a legal defense fund, housed and administered by the National Women’s Law Center, which provides subsidized legal support to those “who have experienced sexual harassment, assault, or abuse in the workplace.” According to the Times, the fund is backed by $13 million in donations and is intended for less-privileged women and men who may suffer retaliatory action as a result of coming forward about sexual harassment or assault.
The group has additionally partnered with several leading advocates in order to “improve laws, employment agreements, and corporate policies” and “enable more women and men to access our legal system to hold wrongdoers accountable.”
“It’s very hard for us to speak righteously about the rest of anything if we haven’t cleaned our own house,” TV producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, one of the leaders of the initiative, said in an interview with the Times. “If this group of women can’t fight for a model for other women who don’t have as much power and privilege, then who can?”
Time’s Up comes as a response to criticism levied against Hollywood for not doing more to address victims’ voices and concerns. In December, a call for Golden Globe attendees to wear all black in protest of sexual misconduct was criticized as empty symbolism.
Actress Rose McGowan, who has been at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, blasted the decision in a tweet, calling it hypocritical.
“Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster [Harvey Weinstein], are wearing black @GoldenGlobes in a silent protest. YOUR SILENCE is THE problem,” she wrote. “You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa.”
This article was originally published at ThinkProgress on January 1, 2018. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Melanie Schmitz is Associate Editor at ThinkProgress, and previously worked for Bustle and Romper.
