Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep and Chadwick Boseman Among 150 Stars to Sign Letter on Gender Equality
Stars from film and television are calling for action against gender inequality.
Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep and Chadwick Boseman are among the notable names who have signed a letter in support of gender equality. More than 150 stars have banded together with international charity ONE in the hopes of creating change.
Back in March, on International Women’s Day, the organization published its fourth annual #PovertyIsSexist letter to world leaders, “demanding that they deliver powerful changes for women and girls living in extreme poverty.” And now, Winfrey, Streep, Boseman, along with a myriad of other influential figures, are lending their support by signing onto the letter.
Other famous signatories from the entertainment industry include Reese Witherspoon, Amy Schumer, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Natalie Portman, Mariska Hargitay, Mindy Kaling, Neil Patrick Harris and Yara Shahidi.
“We won’t stand by while the poorest women are overlooked,” part of the letter states, expressing a dire need for “historic changes for women” in the #MeToo and Time’s Up era. The campaign has also received support from those outside of show business, including former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Chelsea Clinton and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington.
Read the entire letter below
“Dear World leaders,
We’re putting you on notice.
For 130 million girls without an education. For one billion women without access to a bank account. For 39,000 girls who became child brides today. For women everywhere paid less than a man for the same work.
There is nowhere on earth where women have the same opportunities as men, but the gender gap is wider for women living in poverty.
Poverty is sexist. And we won’t stand by while the poorest women are overlooked.
You have the power to deliver historic changes for women this year. From the G7 to the G20; from the African Union to your annual budgets; we will push you for commitments and hold you to account for them. And, if you deliver, we will be the first to champion your progress.
We won’t stop until there is justice for women and girls everywhere.
Because none of us are equal until all of us are equal.”