On January 7th, eight actresses were commended for drawing attention to social issues through the medium of their guests, specifically who their guests were. This list of actresses included Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, and Amy Poehler. Although these actresses did a phenomenal job of drawing attention to social issues and activist organizations, the women who should be commended are the ones addressing the issue through their own activism. In other words, the plus ones.
Tarana Burke was in attendance at the Golden Globes. Along with being the Senior Director of Girls for Gender Equity, an organization dedicated to the physical, psychological, social, and economic development of women and girls, Burke is the founder of the #MeToo movement; a movement that has recently gone viral. The movement was started to help young women, specifically young women of color, who had experienced sexual abuse by letting them know they’re not alone. In an interview with CNN, Burke described the movement as, “On one side, it is a bold declarative statement that ‘I’m not ashamed’, and ‘I’m not alone.’ On the other side, it’s a statement from survivor to survivor that says, ‘I see you, I hear you, I understand you, and I’m here for you, or I get it.” Burke attended the event alongside actress Michelle Williams.
Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), an organization that acts as the leading voice for dignity and fairness for domestic workers in the United States through labor protections. Along with her role as Director of the NDWA, Poo co-founded the Domestic Workers United, a multiracial organization of domestic workers and led the way to the passage in the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights that extends labor protections to domestic workers in New York state. In 2011, Poo co-created the Caring Across Generations campaign, and in 2015, Poo was recognized as one of the World’s 50 greatest leaders. Poo attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Meryl Streep.
Rosa Clemente, the former Vice Presidential running mate to the 2008 Green Party Presidential nominee Cynthia Mckinney, is a scholar and an activist who has dedicated the better part of her career to addressing political struggles facing the Black and Latinx communities. Some of Clemente’s achievements in her successful tenure in activism include co-founding the first National Hip-hop political convention, being a leading scholar on issues of Afro-Latinx identity, and having sat on the boards of organizations such as Black Lives Matter and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. In regards to her 2015-2016 “If I Was President Tour”, Clemente stated, “For me, it’s not only about holding the President [Obama], the House of Representatives, or the United States Senate accountable. Holding public officials accountable is important, but building a multiracial social justice movement is a necessity for our very existence.” Clemente attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Susan Saradon.
Marai Larasi is the Executive Director of Imkaan, a black feminist organization based in the United Kingdom that focuses on addressing violence committed against Black and minority women and girls. Larasi has been a member of Imkaan since 2009, but has been working to end violence against women for the past twenty-three years. In support for the preparation of a guidance note on intersectional issues for UN Women, Larasi stated, “If we are to end violence against women and girls and create a truly equal world, we need to start to create seismic shifts across our social norms. This is not just about transforming belief systems and behaviors in terms of gender; it also means addressing other norms – for example, around ethnicity, class and disability – all of which contribute to holding other oppressive systems in place.” She attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Emma Watson.
Calina Lawrence is a water rights activist and a member of the Suquamish tribe located in Washington state. In 2016, Lawrence graduated with honors from the University of San Francisco with a bachelors in performing arts and social justice. She spent time traveling around the United States advocating for Native Treaty Rights and the “Mni Wiconi” movement led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Lawrence attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Shailene Woodley.
Mónica Ramírez is the Director of Gender Equity and Advocacy for the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of over forty of the nation’s most prominent Latinx organizations. Ramírez has dedicated her career to ending gender-based violence and promoting gender equality on behalf of Latinas, farm workers, and immigrant women. Ramírez founded the first state-based legal project in Florida aimed at combating legal discrimination against women working in agriculture, founded the first national legal project to end sexual violence in the workplace and other forms of discrimination against migrant farm worker and low income immigrant women, and worked on the Centro se los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.’s migrant women’s project. Ramírez attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Laura Dern.
Saru Jayaraman is a co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, an organization with the goal of improving wages and working conditions for the people who are employed in the restaurant industry. Jayaraman works to provide support for workers who were displaced after the World Trade Center attack on September 11th and created ROC United. ROC has since won numerous workplace justice campaigns, significant policy changes in high-profile restaurants and also played a key role in state-wide increases to the minimum wage. Jayaraman attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Amy Poehler.
Billie Jean King is a former world ranking professional tennis player. In her career, King won 39 Grand Slam titles, and a record making 20 championship titles at Wimbledon. King founded the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973, and it has since functioned as the primary organizational body that manages women’s professional tennis tournaments. King has also fought for equal pay for women athletes, and for gender equality on the broader scale. In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, King said, “We just don’t have enough women in every area of decision-making.” King attended the Golden Globes alongside actress Emma Stone.
It is necessary in events such as this to remove the actresses from the spotlight and place it on the remarkable women that accompanied them as their “plus-ones”. All sixteen of these women are the embodiment of the phrase “women empower women” and will continue to have an important impact in not only supporting women, but allowing them to be heard.