Hundreds of top Hollywood actresses and executives, directors, producers, writers, and agents have launched a sweeping initiative to combat sexual harassment in workplaces across the US, with a focus on blue-collar industries. The initiative, Time's Up, includes a legal defense fund backed by $13 million in donations to assist women in low-wage industries, a campaign to advocate gender parity among corporate leadership, and proposed legislation to push companies to adopt policies on harassment and discourage the use of nondisclosure agreements.

The movement addresses a common criticism that the national conversation around sexual misconduct in workplaces has frequently excluded women who typically have less public influence and fewer resources to take on systemic abuse than Hollywood stars...

...[A]n open letter from 300 women in film, TV, and theater...ran as a full-page ad in The New York Times and the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion...It also addressed another open letter written in November on behalf of 700,000 women in the agriculture industry who said that they stood in solidarity with the Hollywood accusers and that they, too, suffered from widespread sexual harassment and assault in their industry..."We particularly want to lift up the voices, power, and strength of women working in low-wage industries where the lack of financial stability makes them vulnerable to high rates of gender-based violence and exploitation," the Time's Up letter said....