The women of Hollywood aren’t backing down. Instead, they’re standing up, continuing their effort against sexual misconduct with “Time’s Up,” an initiative to fight systemic sexual harassment in the workplace. Three hundred prominent Hollywood women, including Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon, Ashley Judd, America Ferrera, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, Kerry Washington, Jill Soloway and Donna Langley, are involved in the plan. Time’s Up includes a legal defense fund to help women in blue-collar industries protect themselves from sexual misconduct, support for the “50/50 by 2020” effort to bring gender parity to the executive suites at Hollywood studios and talent agencies, and the call for women to wear black at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards as a sign of solidarity with victims of sexual harassment, writes The Hollywood Reporter. Well-known contributors to the defense fund include Ava DuVernay, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Regina King, Felicity Huffman, Megan Ellison, Kate Hudson, Viola Davis, Alicia Vikander, Amy Poehler, Olivia Munn, Taylor Swift and Jessica Chastain, among many others.
Though there is no central leader of Time’s Up, it is made of numerous committees and includes Rhimes and Witherspoon among key players. The initiative also includes legislation, corporate policy, hiring practices and aggregating important resources. Time’s Up was established in response to the deluge of sexual misconduct allegations that have emerged in recent months, beginning with The New York Time’s report of three decades of sexual assault, harassment and rape by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
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