300 Prominent Hollywood Women Launch Anti-Harassment Initiative Time's Up

They spoke up to say #MeToo; now, they're fighting back with Time's Up.

Over 300 prominent Hollywood women have banded together to form an initiative to fight systemic sexual harassment in the workplace. Supporters include Reese Witherspoon, Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Meryl Streep, Ashley Judd, America Ferrera.

Times Up includes a legal defense fund, backed by $13 million in donations; legislation to penalize companies for ignoring sexual harassment claims; and a push for gender equity at Hollywood studios and talent agencies.

In an open letter published in the New York Times and Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion said, "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 legal defense fund is targeted at less privileged women — like janitors, nurses, farm workers, and hotel staff.

"It's very hard for us to speak righteously about the rest of anything if we haven't cleaned our own house," Rhimes said. "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?"

from Moviefone News RSS Feed - Moviefone.com http://ift.tt/2EGb13e
via IFTTT