The Golden Globes: all the stars of Hollywood, television and movies, come together in a night of glitz, glamour, and awards. The men wear their best tuxedos while the women wear gorgeous dresses. Women pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the most unique dress on the carpet. Everyone wants to stand out and get on the “Best Dressed List” the next day. However, this year was very different from all the other 74 red carpets at the Golden Globes because there was a general consensus that…
TIME’S UP.
Time’s Up was made by women, for women. It really reached the spotlight at the 2018 Golden Globes. Due to all of the sexual assault allegations that have come to light in the past year, people have taken more serious steps to combating this issue, especially people who have the power of the media, like celebrities. More and more women were coming forward with their stories of sexual assault, harassment, and even worse. These stories started in Hollywood but it became clear that assault was coming from everywhere, whether it was from politics, law, media, culinary, or the hospitality world. With this, Time’s Up is being spread and publicized by many powerful stars in Hollywood with Reese Witherspoon, Amy Poehler, Steven Spielberg, and J.J Abrams donating and campaigning for Time’s Up.
Time’s Up was first inspired by an open letter by the National Farmworkers Women’s Alliance addressed to all women in Hollywood. The letter pledged these famous women and men of Hollywood to show their support for victims who came forward against Weinstein and other prominent men in politics and Hollywood.
After the letter was released to the public, four women stepped forward to take a start and start this campaign. Maha Dakhil, Michelle Kydd Lee, Hylda Queally, and Christy Haubegger began Time’s Up and were quickly joined by thousands of other women. Women from all different work forces joined this campaign. Every woman worked together to make a plan that included a legal defense fund, plans to change legislation, and a push to bring parity to Hollywood. With this, the overall goal for Time’s Up was aimed at protecting women from sexual harassment in all sectors of the workforce. The goal was to make sure that every woman was included because every woman was as important as any other, no matter what job position, ethnicity, or age. The Time’s Up Legal Defense fund will pay legal support for any person that experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. The Legal Defense fund has already raised $16,534,797 out of the goal of $17 million in just 22 days. This shows how supported and popular this campaign is. Time’s Up also works with the National Women’s Law Center, the Legal Network for Gender Equity, and will even pair an individual with an attorney to fight in court.
Time’s Up became official on January 1st, 2018 when the website went live with a letter from over 300 women who worked in different job sectors. There are no signatures attached to the letter to show unity between all women and it begins with “Dear Sisters” to show how they are all equal. The letter is as follows:
“To every woman employed in agriculture who has had to fend off unwanted sexual advances from her boss, every housekeeper who has tried to escape an assaultive guest, every janitor trapped nightly in a building with a predatory supervisor, every waitress grabbed by a customer and expected to take it with a smile, every garment and factory worker forced to trade sexual acts for more shifts, every domestic worker or home health aide forcibly touched by a client, every immigrant woman silenced by the threat of her undocumented status being reported in retaliation for speaking up and to women in every industry who are subjected to indignities and offensive behavior that they are expected to tolerate to make a living: We stand with you. We support you.”
The letter was short and to the point, making it very powerful. The letter made it clear that no woman should ever have to face sexual harassment or discrimination in any way in any place.
Another reason that this campaign is so popular and widespread throughout the country is due to how celebrities are reacting to it. Instead of simply donating money to the issue, celebrities are publically working with Time’s Up, tweeting about it, instagramming about it, talking about it in interviews, and basically doing everything they can do show how important it is to put an end to sexual harassment. One of the most important ways that the Time’s Up campaign was advertised was through the 2018 Golden Globes. Instead of wearing different colored dresses, all the women and men walking the carpet wore black in solidarity. Everyone wearing black was to show how women stand together and support one another. It is important to note that it was not just the women wearing black, but the men as well.
Another way that women showed their support was by bringing dates who are powerful influences for women all over the world. For example, Emma Watson brought Marai Larasi, the executive director of Imkaan, Meryl Streep brough Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Michelle Williams brought Tarana Burke who was the founder of the #MeToo movement.
Overall, women are finished with discrimination and assault. Are we finally in a place where we can put an end to discrimination and assault? Only time will tell. It is important that we do not stop here. We need to continue fighting for equality, we cannot let this powerful campaign stop. 2018 is a new year. It is the year where there will be social equality, and an end to discrimination of all types. Yes, it will be hard. But if we continue to work together and support one another, we can do it.
“No more silence. No more tolerance for discrimination, harassment or abuse. Time’s Up.”
If you want to donate to Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, click here!
I absolutely LOVED this blog. This is a topic I am very passionate about, so I am definitely going to keep up with your blog posts! Your post was well-written and extremely insightful. There were many times when your blog really got me thinking, especially by some of the questions you posed. It was great how you included some background information about how this movement was started because I was not even aware of some of that information. I think the movement has taken off within the last couple of months, and I think it is going to affect the lives of many people. The statement that they made at the Golden Globes was amazing because it showed unity and support from both genders. The links you included very extremely informative, and I loved how you included a link to donate at the end.