What Is Time’s Up? Anti-Sexual Harassment Action Plan By Women In Hollywood

300 women, consisting of well-known actresses, writers, producers, agents and entertainment executives announced Time’s Up, Monday, an initiative which will look to fight systemic sexual harassment and assault exposed in the latter months of 2017.

According to a report by the New York Times, the movement made a promise to support working-class women in the U.S. via an open letter signed by numerous women in show business, a majority of whom are A-listed actresses.

Some of the initiatives to be taken up by the movement are as follows:

1. A legal defense fund to assist women who are financially less capable of putting up a fight against sexual misconduct
2. Legislation targeting companies that tolerate persistent sexual harassment and silence victims through the use of non-disclosure agreements
3. To work towards attaining gender equality at studios and talent agencies
4. To request women walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes to talk about and raise awareness about the issue by wearing black

Some of the Time’s Up movement members include actresses Eva Longoria, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon. Apart from the actresses, other members include the chairwoman of Universal Pictures, Donna Langley, lawyers Nina L. Shaw and Tina Tchen who worked as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, and Maria Eitel, co-chairwoman of the Nike Foundation.

The Time's Up movement follows the #MeToo movement in the latter parts of 2017, which resulted in the exposure of rampant sexual harassment and assault within Hollywood.

The letter, seen on the front page of the Time's Up official site, stated with regards to last year’s #MeToo movement: "A little more than two months ago, courageous individuals revealed the dark truth of ongoing sexual harassment and assault by powerful people in the entertainment industry."

According to the report, the Time’s Up movement is an answer to the criticism of the #MeToo movement with regards to the fact that it focused only on the accusers who made allegations against high-profile men in Hollywood, which resulted in similar cases of working-class women being overshadowed.

According to members of Time’s Up, the letter gave them the confidence to take the movement not only to Hollywood but beyond the industry as well.

Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of the television show "Grey’s Anatomy," who is connected with the movement, said: "It’s very hard for us to speak righteously about the rest of anything if we haven’t cleaned our own house."

"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?" added Rhimes.

Maria Eitel, who conducted Time’s Up meetings said, "people were moved so viscerally. 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," she added.

The report further stated that the movement does not have a leader and is run by volunteers and working groups. One of the working groups was in-charge of the creating of a commission, announced in December, which worked towards making a blueprint for ending sexual harassment in the show business industry.

Another working group, named 50/50by2020, was working towards pushing the entertainment companies to attain gender equality within two years. There’s also a working group representing homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people, the report stated.

Shaw, who had high-profile clients like actress Lupita Nyong’o and Ava DuVernay stated: "People settling out in advance of their rights is obviously something that can’t continue."

The report further state that Tchen is leading the movement’s Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by the National Women’s Law Center’s Legal Network for Gender Equity and will look to establish proper communication between victims and lawyers.

A GoFundMe donation page was also created to raise money for Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. As of this moment, over $13 million have been donated to the cause.

Many on Twitter showed their support for the movement.