London, Feb 19 (TNS): Actress and activist Emma Watson has donated 1.13 million euros to kick start a new British fund to help women facing harassment and abuse at work, launched Baftas and backed by hundreds of female entertainment stars.
The justice and equality fund was announced in an open letter supporting the US Time’s Up movement, signed by around 200 women, including actresses Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keira Knightley and Saoirse Ronan. The letter is addressed to “dear sisters” — as was a similar missive signed by Hollywood stars last month and calls for an international movement to stamp out a culture of abuse exposed by the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The fundraising page for the new fund shows Watson, who won fame in the Harry Potter films and is now a UN Women goodwill ambassador, made the opening 1.13 million euros, $1.4 million donation. It follows a legal aid fund set up by A-list stars in the United States to help both women and men abused at work. In the very near past, we lived in a world where sexual harassment was an uncomfortable joke; an unavoidable, awkward part of being a girl or a woman,” the letter published in The Observer newspaper says. In 2018, we seem to have woken up in a world ripe for change. If we truly embrace this moment, a line in the sand will turn to stone. The letter was published ahead of the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday night, when stars are expected to repeat the protest staged at last month’s Golden Globes awards and wear black in a show of solidarity with victims. As we approach the Baftas, our industry’s time for celebration and acknowledgement, we hope we can celebrate this tremendous moment of solidarity and unity across borders by coming together and making this movement international,” the letter says. It emphasises that revelations about abuse in Hollywood have now spread across the world, saying the movement is about more than just the entertainment industry.
