IT’S TIME FOR COMPANIES TO STEP UP — OR PAY THE PRICE
It’s Time for Companies to Step Up — Or Pay the Price by Nina Shaw and Tina Tchen The TIME’S UP story began two years ago in a moment that was nothing short of extraordinary. It began with a group of women gathered in a room in Hollywood determined to make a change that would resonate far beyond the Hollywood community. We helped co-found TIME’S UP because, like so many, we were deeply horrified by the prevalence of sexual harassment not only in Hollywood, but across industries. NINA SHAW and TINA TCHEN are original signatories and co-founders of TIME’S UP, an organization that works for change across culture, companies, and laws to promote safe, fair, and dignified work for women of all kinds. NINA SHAW is a founding partner of the law firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. She represents talent in television, motion pictures, and on the live stage.
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TINA TCHEN is an attorney who currently serves as TIME’S UP’s president and CEO and previously served as a senior official in the Obama Administration. AS WOMEN OF COLOR AND MOTHERS, we knew firsthand the impact of
gender and racial discrimination in the workplace. We understood the structural barriers that prevent low-income women and women of color from seeking the justice they deserve. And we were committed to doing something about it. As lawyers, the two of us, along with Robbie Kaplan and Hilary Rosen, a public relations professional, knew the most immediate need was to get legal and public relations assistance to the many sexual harassment survivors who were coming forward to speak out or to seek redress for the wrongs they experienced in the workplace. From that came our first initiative, the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, housed and operated by the National Women’s Law Center. To date, the Fund has connected nearly 4,000 individuals to attorneys and committed to spending over $9 million helping people fight for equality and respect at work. This is one solution, but it cannot be the only one. To overcome centuries of racial and gender discrimination at work, companies must step up and lead the fight for safe, fair, and dignified workplaces for women of color. 34
