Equality Now Press Release

December 27, 2004 – Equality Now is launching a public service announcement (PSA) spot featuring actors Meryl Streep, Sarah Jones and Marisa Tomei, with music by singer/song writer Alanis Morissette. Produced for Equality Now by Lifetime Television, this PSA highlights rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking and female genital mutilation as urgent human rights abuses that must be stopped. The PSA calls on the public to join the work of Equality Now and take action to end violations of women’s rights. Scheduled to premiere on Lifetime Television at the end of December 2004, the PSA will also air on other cable stations throughout 2005.

By creatively using art in advocacy, Equality Now has demonstrated the power of artists to highlight issues of concern to women and effectively mobilize public pressure. For example, members of Equality Now’s Advisory Council Meryl Streep and Alanis Morissette have on numerous occasions lent their powerful voices to advance international women’s issues including the participation of women in the restoration of peace and democracy in Afghanistan, and efforts to end the commercial sexual exploitation of women. In 2000 for the fifth anniversary of the United Nations Beijing Conference on Women, Equality Now commissioned Sarah Jones to produce Women Can’t Wait!, an outstanding one-woman play that was performed in venues around New York and at the United Nations as part of a larger campaign highlighting the impact of sex discriminatory laws on the lives of women around the world.

Meryl Streep spoke movingly of the need for advocacy on behalf of women when she performed at Equality Now’s tenth anniversary celebration. “Watching our sisters and daughters, mothers and grandmothers around the world,” she said, “I’ve felt the necessity of raising our voices on behalf of our own because they are us and we are them.” Noting that a mention of Equality Now on the Oprah Winfrey Show quadrupled the membership of the Women's Action Network, Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive Director, commented on the impact of public visibility in reaching individuals who care about human rights violations and want to help: “We believe that every individual has the power to end violence and discrimination and make a difference in women’s lives,” she said. “We hope the PSA will encourage more people to join Equality Now and take direct action against human rights abuses.”

Equality Now is an international human rights organization that works to protect and promote the civil, political, economic and social rights of girls and women. Equality Now’s Women’s Action Network is comprised of more than 25,000 organizations and individuals in more than 160 countries. For more information, please visit www.equalitynow.org.

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