Hollywood powerbroker warns of ‘profound betrayal’ on gender equity
“If you want women to step into their full power in the workplace we have to address the invisible labour women do in our homes,” she said. “We have to have better partnerships in our homes, and it’s not just for women, it also liberates men who can be full parents and full fathers as well.”
Harden said it took her a long time to fully understand the extra burdens women faced.
“When you look at what systemically has been stacked against us – inadequate child care support, terrible pay equity, all of the unconscious and conscious bias, the deep misogyny … in our culture – just the fact we’re all showing up today here doing the work, it’s heroic, it’s revolutionary,” she said.
While white cisgender women experienced disadvantage, she said it was undeniably worse for women of colour, LGBTQIA and disabled women.
Hello Sunshine, founded by Harden and Witherspoon in 2016, focuses on highlighting the stories of women and minority groups that have largely been ignored by the male-dominated entertainment sector, with the aim of changing the narrative for women.
“If you want to change your stories, you have got to change the storytellers,” Harden said.
Harden recalled a day driving from the Hello Sunshine office and experiencing a feeling she had never felt.
“That feeling was the opposite of loneliness,” she said. “I realised how profoundly lonely I’ve been my whole career. You look at the data, I’ve been the 2 per cent, the 5 per cent, the 10 per cent, the 20 per cent, the woman who is the one in 50 who is raising venture capital, the most senior person in the room, but you are the one asked to get the coffee, all of that stuff.”
To drive change, Harden said women and men needed to work together, and ask what they could do individually and collectively.
“It’s the only way, when you look ahead at the bravery and leadership that is going to be required in the next 10 to 20 years,” she said.
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