Emma Watson has donated £1million to a fund helping victims of sexual harassment
Emma Watson has made a £1million donation to a new fund that aims to provide support for those affected by sexual harassment.
Tom Hiddleston and Keira Knightley are among the names listed on the official Go Fund Me page as having each donated £10,000.
Other donations include £500 from Emma Thompson, and £1,000 each from Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker and Noomi Rapace.
Watson, 27, who played Hermione Granger in the eight-film Harry Potter franchise from 2001 to 2011, is reportedly worth £39m according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List.
She was among the first to speak out against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who is facing accusations by numerous female stars of sexual harassment and rape.
Watson worked with him in 2011 when she starred in his film My Week With Marilyn.
The then-19-year-old looked visibly uncomfortable when they were pictured together shortly after partying in Central London after a night at the BAFTAs.
In images taken at the time, a young Watson can be seen leaving Mahiki nighclub in London as the then 58-year-old producer grabbed her from behind.
After the allegations surfaced, the actress and campaigner for equal rights tweeted her support of the women who had come forward.
Posting to Twitter, she wrote: ‘I stand with all the women who have been sexually harassed, and am awestruck by their bravery. This mistreatment of women has to stop. ‘
In recent years Watson has become a leading figure in the fight for gender equality after taking up her position as Women Goodwill Ambassador for the UN in 2014.
Her donation follows the publication of an open letter backed by more than 200 leading female stars in the entertainment industry.
The letter, one of two published in Sunday’s The Observer newspaper ahead of Sunday night’s Bafta awards, demands the eradication of sexual harassment from across all industries.
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was pictured grabbing the then-19-year-old Emma Watson as they left Mahiki nightclub together in 2011
Double Oscar-winner Thompson and Bond star Naomie Harris are among signatories on the open letter standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Time’s Up movement in calling for an end to harassment, abuse, and impunity in a world ‘ripe for change’.
The stars of film, TV and stage have also joined forces with more than 160 activists, academics and service providers, to launch the Justice and Equality Fund which will aim to resource a network of support and advocacy organisation projects across the UK.
Tom Hiddleston and Keira Knightley have donated £10,000 to Justice and Equality Fund
The Go Fund Me page states: ‘We have created the Justice and Equality Fund, to create the far-reaching personal, social, legal and policy changes that will ensure everyone can feel safe at work, at play and at home.
‘Together we can end the culture of harassment, abuse and impunity’.
Sunday night’s Bafta film awards will see Britain’s biggest stars joined by activists on the red carpet, while many attendees will wear black in solidarity with Time’s Up – the movement launched following the sexual harassment scandal which engulfed Hollywood after an avalanche of allegations were made against film producer Harvey Weinstein.
The open letter from women in entertainment states: ‘This movement is bigger than just a change in our industry alone.
‘This movement is intersectional, with conversations across race, class, community, ability and work environment, to talk about the imbalance of power.’
The letter highlights the gender pay gap, the insecurities of the gig economy and freelance work as well as research which found more than half of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment at work.
Dr Who star Jodie Whittaker has given £1,000 towards the fund to help advocacy projects
It continues: ‘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.
‘It was certainly not to be discussed, let alone addressed. 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.’
It says high-profile stars ‘need to use our power as communicators and connectors to shift the way society sees and treats us’.
‘We need to examine the kind of womanhood our industry promotes and sells to the world.’
They call for ‘collective power’ in bringing the Time’s Up movement to workers across all industries ‘in the limelight or the shadows’ to galvanise others and invite supporters to donate to their new fund.
Managed by Rosa, the UK Justice And Equality Fund aims to make workplaces safe for all and ensure anyone subjected to harassment and abuse is able to access support.
The new fund closely mirrors the Time’s Up campaign propelled by the US entertainment industry to tackle harassment and sexism.
Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon each donated $500,000 to the organization’s legal defense fund, which will provide financial assistance to victims of sexual harassment, assault or abuse while at work, regardless of the industry they are employed in.
Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation donated $2 million; Katie McGrath and Star Trek creator JJ Abrams gave $1 million; and Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey each donated $100,000 to the cause.
Others backing the campaign include Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg.
They say the Baftas is a time to ‘celebrate this tremendous moment of solidarity and unity across borders by coming together and making this movement international’.
Gemma Arterton, Andrea Riseborough, Gemma Chan, and Tessa Thompson are among the stars who will be accompanied at the Baftas by activist guests in a move mirroring the Golden Globes last month.
The guests include Laura Bates who founded the award-winning Everyday Sexism Project, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder of UK Black Pride, and Eileen Pullen and Gwen Davis, two of the ‘Dagenham Girls’ who walked out of a Ford Motor Company plant after learning they were being paid less than their male counterparts in 1968.
A second letter signed by more than 160 activists, academics and service providers welcomes the involvement of the stars.
It reads: ‘For each woman in the entertainment industry who has spoken out, there are thousands of women whose stories go unheard…These are not isolated incidents.
‘This is about power and inequality; and it is systemic.’
Donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/Justice-and-Equality-Fund