(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The #MeToo movement is not just a "Hollywood thing" and has inspired women everywhere to speak about their experiences, Hollywood actor Charlize Theron said on Saturday.
Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum, Theron insisted that a "fire has been lit" in the Hollywood industry since the #MeToo movement took off.
In 2006, Tarana Burke coined the 'Me Too' phrase to help women speak out against sexual abuse. However, it wasn't until of October, 2017, when the movement took off shortly after the misconduct of Hollywood producer Anthony Weinstein was reported.
The Oscar winning actor said: "It's undeniable what's happening with this activism right now," she said. "We all have different opinions of what the catalyst was of this movement, but I don't care, as long as the conversation continues.
"I think the number of women who have found strength and voice to be able to speak about what happened to them, what they have experienced and seen is just too powerful for this not to cause change. In my industry, people are thinking differently, talking differently. Their awareness is at a level that has never been before. From here, we can only move forwards."
She said a similar change is being seen in terms of the salary gap between males and females in Hollywood. Theron believes a change is finally happening as more women are seeking transparency.
"Through the transparency we have seen things that have left us shocked. We always knew that it existed, but, I think we were in denial about how extreme the numbers and discrepancies were," she said.
"I can tell you that there has been a fire lit in my industry. I'm proud to witness it and proud to be lighting that fire with them. The nicest thing about this is that this crossing borders and crossing industries, it's not just a Hollywood thing. We are finally looking at society values of women. When we look at the top 1 per cent jobs in the world and the lack of women in those places, we're finally at a place where women are saying no more."
She also announced that her foundation, the Charlie Theron Outreach programme, will be launching a scholarship fund that will help educate the youth in South Africa against HIV and Aids.
"In 2007, I launched Charlize Theron Outreach. It was born out of the love of my home country. When the epidemic was born, I witnessed a lot of people dying from Aids when I was 8 and I didn't know what Aids was.
Back then and today unfortunately, South Africa is the highest hit when it comes to HIV. We have the highest numbers of infections and new infection rates. There's a lot of organisations working with immediate attention to people who were already affected. But we lost an entire generation of parents through Aids. We are left with a enormous number of adolescents and youth who were not getting the right information, not at home and not at school. No one was telling them how not to be HIV positive," she said.
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