#MeToo gains momentum
From the Winnipeg Free Press: The #MeToo movement started a clock ticking, loudly, warning powerful men in the entertainment industry that time was running out on their generations-old systemic harassment and abuse of women.
To say the cultural shift — which began in October with the takedown of Hollywood producer and alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein and continued through the end of 2017 with almost-daily revelations about other high-profile abusers — was overdue would be an understatement of epic proportions. And now that powerful Hollywood men have been put on notice, the moment has arrived for powerful Hollywood women to use their clout to expand #MeToo’s influence across a wider swath of societal and industrial sectors.
A declaration released New Year’s Day, signed by more than 300 actors, directors, producers, agents and executives, seeks to take the #MeToo initiative into new territory, by encouraging women in other workplace environments to speak out about abuse and, more importantly, by offering financial support to those who may have remained silent out of fear of losing jobs and livelihoods.
The new movement’s message is as simple and direct as its predecessor’s: #TimesUp.
High-profile supporters such as Shonda Rhimes, Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, America Ferrera and others have contributed more than $13 million to a fund that will support less-privileged women — including farm workers, janitors, nurses, restaurant servers and females employed in the garment, hotel and factory sectors — if they choose to speak out about the abuse they’ve endured.
An open letter that ran in the New York Times and the Spanishlanguage publication La Opinion began with the greeting “Dear Sisters” and offered both verbal and practical support “to women in every industry who are subjected to indignities and offensive behaviour that they are expected to tolerate in order to make a living.”
The show-business signatories also stated, “We particularly want to lift up the voices, power and strength of women working in low-wage industries where the lack of financial stability makes them vulnerable to high rates of gender-based violence and exploitation.”
The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund will be administered by the (U.S.) National Women’s Law Center under the supervision of attorneys Nina L. Shaw and Tina Tchen (the latter served as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff).
It’s a powerful statement and a clear indication that the cultural moment created by the #MeToo movement is not a temporary thing. Change is occurring at an accelerating pace and while the ultimate goals of equal gender representation at the executive levels of industry, wage parity at all levels of employment and harassment-free workplaces are still far from being achieved, it can at least be said that such topics are now being discussed as practical matters rather than ethereal notions.
How far — and how fast — this next step in #MeToo’s evolution will carry the cause of workplace equality remains to be seen, but there’s no reason to believe the movement’s momentum will slow.
Show business is notoriously insular, so it’s gratifying to see Hollywood women using their positions of influence and considerable financial comfort to offer a hand up to less-fortunate females. “We’re a bunch of women used to getting stuff done,” said Rhimes, the producer of such TV hits as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal.” “And we’re getting stuff done.”