The #Metoo and #TimesUp movements started something big. For the first time in America, men are being held accountable for their sexual impulses. While the US definitely offers a long list of freedoms to women that several other countries do not provide, we are a long shot from equality. There is a big difference between rights and equality, which seems to be the crux of the debate. While many people like to point out all the rights that women have, that doesn't mean things are equal. Just because a law states that everyone is allowed to do something, does not make that law equal. For example, women have the right to work as CEO, but they are not paid equally for their work.
Some of the most influential people in the world have teamed up with ONE to spearhead a movement aimed at tackling gender inequality. ONE's website describes their company as, "a campaigning and advocacy organization of more than nine million people around the world taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. We believe the fight against poverty isn’t about charity, but about justice and equality." ONE published a letter taking aim at gender equality. A long list of celebrities, including Oprah, Ryan Reynolds, Chadwick Boseman, Letitia Wright, Thandie Newton, Issa Rae, Amy Schumer, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, and Lena Dunham have supported the movement with their signatures. You can also add your own name to the list here, which already has about 140,000 signatures.
The letter reads as follows:
"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."
