Both of these pieces need to be read in this order. First, is this one titled, "700,000 Female Farmworkers Say They Stand With Hollywood Actors Against Sexual Assault." The second one is titled, Powerful Hollywood Women Unveil Anti-Harassment Action Plan. It's exciting to see ideas and rhetoric—in this case, the #MeToo movement, addressing the issue of workplace harassment against women—turned into action because of the 700,000 female farmworkers' plea for visibility to the work conditions that they similarly face.
Such an encouraging way to start the new year in this country.
Check out their website: https://www.timesupnow.com/
Thanks to Emilio Zamora for bringing this to my attention.
Angela Valenzuela
c/s
We write on behalf of the approximately 700,000 women who work in the agricultural fields and packing sheds across the United States. For the past several weeks we have watched and listened with sadness as we have learned of the actors, models and other individuals who have come forward to speak out about the gender based violence they’ve experienced at the hands of bosses, coworkers and other powerful people in the entertainment industry. We wish that we could say we’re shocked to learn that this is such a pervasive problem in your industry. Sadly, we’re not surprised because it’s a reality we know far too well. Countless farmworker women across our country suffer in silence because of the widespread sexual harassment and assault that they face at work.
Even though we work in very different environments, we share a common experience of being preyed upon by individuals who have the power to hire, fire, blacklist and otherwise threaten our economic, physical and emotional security. Like you, there are few positions available to us and reporting any kind of harm or injustice committed against us doesn’t seem like a viable option. Complaining about anything — even sexual harassment — seems unthinkable because too much is at risk, including the ability to feed our families and preserve our reputations.
In these moments of despair, and as you cope with scrutiny and criticism because you have bravely chosen to speak out against the harrowing acts that were committed against you, please know that you’re not alone. We believe and stand with you.
In solidarity,
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas is an organization comprised of current and former farmworker women, along with women who hail from farmworker families.
Powerful Hollywood Women Unveil Anti-Harassment Action Plan
Driven
by outrage and a resolve to correct a power imbalance that seemed
intractable just months ago, 300 prominent actresses and female agents,
writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives have formed
an ambitious, sprawling initiative to fight systemic sexual harassment
in Hollywood and in blue-collar workplaces nationwide.
The initiative includes:
—
A legal defense fund, backed by $13 million in donations, to help less
privileged women — like janitors, nurses and workers at farms,
factories, restaurants and hotels — protect themselves from sexual
misconduct and the fallout from reporting it.
—
Legislation to penalize companies that tolerate persistent harassment,
and to discourage the use of nondisclosure agreements to silence
victims.
— A drive to reach gender parity at studios and talent agencies that has already begun making headway.
— And a request that women walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes speak out and raise awareness by wearing black.
Called Time’s Up,
the movement was announced on Monday with an impassioned pledge of
support to working-class women in an open letter signed by hundreds of
women in show business, many of them A-listers. The letter also ran as a
full-page ad in The New York Times, and in La Opinion, a
Spanish-language newspaper.
“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 letter says.
The
group is one answer to the question of how women in Hollywood would
respond to cascading allegations that have upended the careers of
powerful men in an industry where the prevalence of sexual predation has
yielded the minimizing cliché of the “casting couch,” and where silence
has been a condition of employment.
Time’s
Up also helps defuse criticism that the spotlight on the #MeToo
movement has been dominated by the accusers of high-profile men, while
the travails of working-class women have been overlooked.
This was highlighted in November, when an open letter was sent on behalf of 700,000 female farmworkers
who said they stood with Hollywood actresses in their fight against
abuse. Time’s Up members said the letter bolstered their resolve to
train their efforts on both Hollywood and beyond.
“It’s
very hard for us to speak righteously about the rest of anything if we
haven’t cleaned our own house,” said Shonda Rhimes, the executive
producer of the television series “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How
to Get Away With Murder,” who has been closely involved with the group.
“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?” Ms. Rhimes continued.
Other
Time’s Up members include the actresses Ashley Judd, Eva Longoria,
America Ferrera, Natalie Portman, Rashida Jones, Emma Stone, Kerry
Washington and Reese Witherspoon; the showrunner Jill Soloway; Donna Langley, chairwoman of Universal Pictures; the lawyers Nina L. Shaw
and Tina Tchen, who served as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff; and
Maria Eitel, an expert in corporate responsibility who is co-chairwoman
of the Nike Foundation.
“People
were moved so viscerally,” said Ms. Eitel, who helps moderate Time’s Up
meetings, which began in October. “They didn’t come together because
they wanted to whine, or complain, or tell a story or bemoan. They came
together because they intended to act. There was almost a ferociousness
to it, especially in the first meetings.”
Time’s Up is leaderless, run by volunteers and made up of working groups. One group oversaw the creation of a commission, led by Anita Hill and announced in December, that is tasked with creating a blueprint for ending sexual harassment in show business.
Another group, 50/50by2020,
is pushing entertainment organizations and companies to agree to reach
gender parity in their leadership tiers within two years. It already can
claim a victory. In early December,
after Ms. Rhimes pressed him, Chris Silbermann, a managing director at
ICM Partners, pledged that his talent agency would meet that goal.
“We just reached this conclusion in our heads that, damn it, everything is possible,” Ms. Rhimes said. “Why shouldn’t it be?”
There
is also a group ensuring that minorities and gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and transgender people are heard. “No one wants to look back and say
they stood at the sidelines,” said Lena Waithe, a star of the Netflix
series “Master of None” and part of that working group.
Another
group is devising legislation to tackle abuses and address how
nondisclosure agreements silence victims of sexual harassment. “People
settling out in advance of their rights is obviously something that
can’t continue,” said Ms. Shaw, a prominent lawyer whose clients have
included Lupita Nyong’o and Ava DuVernay.
Ms.
Tchen is spearheading the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is
administered by the National Women’s Law Center’s Legal Network for
Gender Equity, and will connect female victims of sexual harassment with
lawyers. Major donors include Ms. Witherspoon, Ms. Rhimes, Meryl
Streep, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, and the talent agencies ICM
Partners, the Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor and
United Talent Agency.
Time’s
Up has also been urging women to wear black at the Golden Globes on
Sunday, to use the red carpet to speak out against gender and racial
inequality, and to raise awareness about their initiative and the legal
fund.
“This
is a moment of solidarity, not a fashion moment,” Ms. Longoria said. A
vast majority of the women who had been contacted and planned to attend
the ceremony pledged to participate, she said.
“For
years, we’ve sold these awards shows as women, with our gowns and
colors and our beautiful faces and our glamour,” Ms. Longoria said.
“This time the industry can’t expect us to go up and twirl around.
That’s not what this moment is about.”
Time’s Up was formed soon after The New York Times reported in early October that the producer Harvey Weinstein had reached multiple settlements with women who had accused him of sexual misconduct.
As
more women stepped forward, and more men were accused of abuse, a group
of female talent agents met at Creative Artists to discuss the problem
and explore solutions. The group soon expanded to dozens and,
eventually, about 150 participants (it has since doubled as the
actresses who joined expanded to New York and London), who meet weekly
at the agency and in living rooms across Los Angeles, as well as for
daylong workshops.
Katie McGrath, who runs the production company Bad Robot with her husband, J. J. Abrams (both are also major donors to the legal fund),
said that the women realized from the start that they needed to figure
out “what we wanted out of this moment, and what was going to be
required in order to shift and pivot from this horror to structural
change.”
Several
of the women said their work with Time’s Up presented a rare
opportunity to meet regularly and pool efforts with other powerful
women. In an industry overwhelmingly dominated by men, they said, they
were usually one of the few actresses on set, or one of the few female
writers or producers in a room.
“We
have been siloed off from each other,” Ms. Witherspoon said. “We’re
finally hearing each other, and seeing each other, and now locking arms
in solidarity with each other, and in solidarity for every woman who
doesn’t feel seen, to be finally heard.”
No
one can predict whether this burst of energy will lead to lasting
changes. Time’s Up members said the meetings had brought disagreements
and frustrations as well. “It’s not as satisfying as finding a silver
bullet,” Ms. Ferrera said. “We all recognize there’s no such thing.”
But, she added, “not taking action is no longer an option.”
Ms.
Rhimes said working with the group of women reminded her of a feeling
she got as a child, when her mother took her around the neighborhood in a
wagon to register black women to vote. “We’re a bunch of women used to
getting stuff done,” she said. “And we’re getting stuff done.”
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