TIME’S UP NOW

Olivia Doro

Starting in the fall of 2017, thousands of women in the film industry came forward to tell their story and bring to light the sexual harassment, assault, and inequality women have endured, yet not reported, until now. The #metoo tweet from former Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman sparked a social media frenzy with over 1.7 million posts across 85 countries. Now dozens of Hollywood actresses and actors have formed the TIME’S UP NOW campaign to end injustice and inequality, not only in the entertainment industry, but for women everywhere to enjoy the same privileges and safeties that men have.

TIME’S UP NOW is targeted to reach women of every industry, color, sexual identity, legal status, and position of power in their field to attain the same rights that men are accustomed to and expect. It’s a call to action for every industry to instill change for the women they employ and plan to employ so that no woman will ever feel the gap in equality, treatment, and pay in the workplace. Not only is the campaign backed by hundreds of powerful women, these women have already started a fund for change.

Letter of Solidarity Photo Credit: TIME’S UP NOW

Donations to the TIME’S UP NOW go fund me page or purchases of  any TIME’S UP NOW merchandise gives money to the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund that helps victims challenge their abusers. With a goal of 17 million dollars, the go fund me has already raised 16,625,073 in a mere 25 days. The fund is housed at and administered by the prominent national women’s legal rights organization the National Women’s Law Center. The Center connects public relations professionals and lawyers to work with the Center and provide assistance to any and all victims.

While TIME’S UP NOW is making strides to enact change and start the movement, Iceland has made an incredible decision that will hopefully spread to more countries. Iceland has decided that any company who can’t prove they pay men and women the same for equal work are subject to being fined. This act is one small step towards Iceland’s goal of ending the gender pay gap by 2022, and hopefully sparking a change that will spread across the world.

What this campaign and Iceland are doing are only small steps in a much larger movement towards equality. Banding together and enforcing change in our own places of work, and even at school, will start a change to end the divide between men and women. However, this change will not happen without the support and change of behaviors from male colleagues to men and women in power. Powerful women banding together for change is important, but so is powerful men coming together to support and enact change alongside those women.

Working together, both men and women can end the inequality gap in every industry and end the silence and pain of women in lower positions who are too afraid to speak out. With more women  speaking out, sharing their story, and bringing light to the misconduct of men in power, the silence is ending. This movement isn’t to create another imbalance of power between men and women, but to balance the scales of power amongst men and women.

Of the eight students interviewed the two chosen gave their own opinions from their knowledge on the campaign and their personal beliefs. Jillian Eddy, 11, who identifies as a liberal said “I think it’s important and that it’s a great way to integrate awareness and motivation to create change.” On the opposite end Ryan Smith, 11, who identifies as a conservative said, “I think that women should have equal rights, and I know it’s not set in stone, and it hasn’t been in history. But women are getting more apt to getting equal with men. I think everyone is trying to make it throughout the world, and I think it’s pretty equal in the United States right now, and in Europe. But in violent countries it’s not equal at all.”

Visiting the TIME’S UP NOW website gives the full letter of solidarity, information on the campaign and Fund, statistics about injustice and inequality, resources, and news on the campaign. The campaign is young and already making headlines weekly, so keep an eye out for more change and news on the campaign.