TRANSCRIPCIÓN DISCURSO SIENNA MILLER

Thank you to the UN Women, the Permanent Mission of Norway and to the Guardian for
inviting me to this event. I am very honored to be here at my first UN Event and to be
speaking to so many activists and gender experts today.

This is such an exciting and pivotal time to be a woman and I am filled with admiration for
those who have had the courage to come forward with their stories, which have brought
this wave of change. And even though I’m pleased to be here today, I like so many woman
had to get past the voice inside my head that questions our qualifications to stand up in
front of a room of people and share my truth. So bear with me.

I think what helped me with all of this is just getting to the point where I really feel like I
had just enough. Enough of being undervalued, enough of being undermined, enough of
being disrespected because of my gender.

A few years ago, I was offered a gutsy and powerful role in a play that was very close to my
heart, it was a two-hander on Broadway, but I was offered less than half what my male co-
star was being paid. The decision to this and turn down this particular role was very
difficult and lonely. I was forced to choose between making a concession of my self-worth
and dignity, and a role I had fallen in love with. I was being pressured to accept a value of
myself, which I knew was wrong and, albeit with real difficulty, self judgement and even
shame, I walked away from that part. And that changed something in me.

It turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life, not because I took the part, but because I
didn’t. It was the first time in my professional life that I had said no on principle. And today
in the midst of this movement, I questioned what led me to feel ashamed, when it was the
industry that was acting wrongly. Is that sounded familiar?

This movement where together we take a stand on justice, challenges the loneliness and
isolation we have all felt, whatever our situations. I just really feel like, as a result of this,
we are not alone any longer.

So driven by outrage and a resolve to end discrimination amongst women in the media
and in all industry, women have united to claim that time is up. Earlier this year I joined a
powerful group of women in the entertainment industry and activists opening up against
sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse. One of the initiatives under the “Time’s Up”
movement was the creation of a Legal Defense Fund spearheaded by fellow actor and
activist Reese Witherspoon. And in less than three months of existence, the fund has raised
more than 20 million dollars to help women fight systemic inequality and injustice in the
workplace, so that these women, farmworkers, domestic workers, geometers, factory
workers, no longer feel marginalized and forgotten, so they have the resources, the suport
and critically the money to fight and protect themselves. This fund has already helped
1500 of these courageous women to call men to account, and this is huge. But for me, the
strongest significant of the “Time’s Up” movement is that, by bringing to light some of the
darkest moments of some of the most powerful women in Hollywood, it sends a message
to those who admire and listen to them. This message is that sexual harassment can
happen to anyone; even those who we think are untouchable because of their fame, or
celebrity status.
Being treated unfairly cannot be an intrinsic part of being a woman. Women are not
expected or supposed to endure injustices in silence because they have children to feed,
mortgages to pay or ambitions to fulfill. Women have the power to speak up.

Yes, harassment and discrimination is systemic. In all parts of life, there are men who
make calculated unwanted sexual advances, HR (Human Resources) departments that are
unresponsive or untrusting, managers that look the other way, lawyers who trivialize
these incidents and who try to keep women silent. For too long the cruel privilege of
harassing a woman with impunity has been allowed to flourish, but by challenging a
power imbalance that seemed intractable some months ago, the “Time’s Up” movement
has taught a lesson to our rampant patriarchal societies, that the future will be equal.

This is about women speaking their truth, about speaking truth to power, and about
leaving no one behind. Building empowering, respectful communities starts with
recognizing the existence of sexual violence and discrimination. Recognizing the ways in
which this, to fight this violence, affects every life differently, requires different responses,
resources and support. It means that all of us, you, me, our employers, our audience, our
networks… every one of us has to disrupt and end the enabling environment which allows
sexual harassment and discrimination to continue. And we’ve reached the tipping point,
the tide on gender discrimination is clearly turning.

When I see women and girls mobilizing around the world, in the Latin-American, Ni Una
Menos movement marches to protest the violence against women; the women I recently
sat with in the northeastern Nigeria on a trip with the International Medical Corps who
have fled from Boko Hara; the demonstrations in Poland and Ireland against abortion
bans; the women who spoke out in the International Criminal court to hold to account
those who use rape as a method of war. The revolution really is her.

In the past few months we have seen how the media can be a powerful tool to denounce an
injustice, but in the drive for sensational headlines, when story is a bite-sized to an easy
consumption, this can also drive conclusions that obliterate reality and due process the
real story is lost. I was gossip column fodder in my 20’s when I became a so-called
celebrity. I was an optimistic, driven, hardworking and ambitious young woman
determined to pursue a career in acting based on my merit and talent. And I found myself
relentlessly harassed by 15 camera armed men on a daily basis, determined to scare me to
th point of rage or tears in the name of getting a newsworthy shot. My life and career was
in the hands of people intent on destruction, people who judged and vilified me in ways
they would never ever have done if I was a man. I fought back. I got privacy law changed.
But men are not subjected to the same criticism and merciless scrutiny as women are. And
as we age, we become increasingly left in the sidelines of major productions, and our
stories remain untold. For too long women have not been heard and I am glad, as we all
are, that things are changing now.

The media has a powerful voice to expose wrongdoings and to hold the powerful to
account. Still nobody should be judged without a fair trial. In an era where it sometimes
feels like democracy is hanging on by a very thin threat, let’s try to uphold one of the
fundamental aspects of it, of justice and due process.

So, what is our industry’s role in this revolution? I believe it is pivotal. A study by our co-
host for this event, UN Women and the Geena Davis Institute, on gender and media a few
years back gives us some hard data on stereotypes in film. The study found for example,
that when you go to the cinemas only about a third of all speaking characters are women.
For leading or co-leading roles that number drops to less than a quarter. The only area
where women score higher than men is when it comes to nudity o sexually revealing
clothing. For this indicator there are twice as many as female as male characters. But here
is another finding: with a female director there is an increase in female roles. This is a
start. Role models really matter. As Geena Davis says when you can see it you can be it, and
for children in particular, the presence of non-stereotypical female characters has
important role functions, which shape gender relations. That is why we need to examine
and challenge the gender roles our industry promotes and sells to the world.

I believe in women who feel strong enough to say no to injustices, who speak up and share
their stories and to bring change. I believe in our power to create stories led, starred,
directed and produced by women and in creating an inclusive culture that gives women
more visibility in positions of management and leadership of creative products. To achieve
all of this, we must remain together and to work with our male counterparts to educate
and inspire. Whether we are in the limelight or in the shadows, or sitting here in this
conference room, our voices matter.

THANK YOU.