Panel, Fireside Chat
What's Next: Harnessing the Momentum of #MeToo and #TimesUp
Milken InstituteAlex Witt, Ashley Judd, Kerry Kennedy, Catharine MacKinnon, Stacy Smith, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Caroline Biden
- The Me Too movement is expected to evolve into a broader communal assessment of future actions, with a specific prediction that one in four girls will be a victim of sexual assault by age 18, a statistic described as likely under-represented.
- The movement is anticipated to continue centralizing experiences of those marginalized by race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, extending beyond Hollywood to include C-suites, childcare centers, farm workers, and stock exchange participants.
- Time's Up is in its initial development phase but aims to become self-sustaining and raise at least $100 million total, having already secured over $20 million for a Legal Defense Fund intended to address workplace retaliation.
- The "WOKE" initiative launched to serve as a safe space for women of color, immediately aligning with a call for record companies (RCA, Sony), streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal), and Ticketmaster to cease business with R. Kelly.
- Increased female directors are projected to result in more girls and women on screen, a greater ratio of girls to women at the center, increased racial and ethnic diversity, and more women over 40.
- Hiring practices are expected to shift toward women hiring other women to foster humanization, while the "inclusion rider" is anticipated to slow hiring processes, end closed network practices, and enforce criteria-based interviews.
- Legal and structural changes are projected to include shifts in social and cultural norms influencing law, longer statutes of limitations to allow civil claims for harassment spanning decades, and the adoption of anonymous reporting mechanisms.
- A more substantive, intersectional Equal Rights Amendment is anticipated to secure comparable worth, hiring equality, and the ability to pass laws against violence against women previously ruled unconstitutional.
- The Coalition of Immokalee Workers model is expected to be transferable to other industries globally, with existing applications noted in the apparel industry in Bangladesh and the dairy industry in Vermont.
- Institutional change is predicted to require leaders to implement anonymous surveys, demonstrate humility, remove impunity, and establish female-to-female alliances based on egalitarian consensus building.
- Leadership at the highest levels is expected to result in fewer representatives of the group most prone to sexual harassment in power positions, contingent on explicit male leadership enforcing immediate consequences for misconduct.
- Workplace equity is projected to remain elusive until women have equal access to capital pools and wealth-building opportunities, with harassment expected to continue flourishing without these structural shifts.
- The G7 agenda, starting with the next year's presidency in France under President Macron, is expected to mainstream gender and sexual abuse analysis into every meeting covering environment, finance, and development.