Anita Hill: “Thousands” Have Responded To Hollywood Commission’s Survey On Sexual Harassment In Industry, Urges Even More Participation
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EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of showbiz workers have responded to the Anita Hill-led Hollywood Commission’s survey on sexual harassment, assault and bias in the entertainment industry, but Hill says she’d like to see thousands more take part in it.
“We have in the thousands right now, but we also know that this is a very big industry,” Hill told Deadline. “The more people we can get to take the survey, the better we are going to be able to provide really important and effective solutions to the issues that are raised and give us a broader picture of what’s going on in the industry.”
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The survey was launched on November 20 and originally was intended to close four weeks later, but it might be extended in order to get a more complete picture of the extent of problem. “We’re going to do whatever we need to do in order to get the information,” Hill said. “If that means extending it longer than we’d initially planned, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Many of the Commission’s partners – including the film and TV academies, SAG-AFTRA, the WGA and the DGA – recently sent email blasts to their members encouraging them to take the survey.
“Everybody is helping out,” Hill said, “and that’s one of the things that we’re very excited and happy about. We’ve got good support from different people throughout the industry representing different groups. We also know that when we get their support, there tends to be an uptick in the number of people going online, logging in and taking the survey. So that’s been critical for us, and we’re very thankful for that. So we will again be going back to those organizations, perhaps to do follow-ups with their members to remind them of the survey.”
To take the survey, click here.
Hill stressed that the survey is completely confidential and that no one is asked to identify themselves or others. “We are not collecting any kind of identity information and we will certainly not be using identity as part of our analysis because we’re not going to be collecting that information,” she said. “This is going to be protected information at every phase. We won’t even be able to collect any email information from people. So I hope that gives people some assurance that their privacy will be protected.”
Founded two years ago in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the Hollywood Commission is not only surveying sexual harassment and abuse in the industry but racial, ethnic and gender bias as well. “There’s great diversity of experiences in this industry,” Hill said, “and what we’re trying to do is capture as many of those experiences as possible, whether they’re experiences around sexual harassment — which, of course, people know we’re trying to collect – but also experiences around bias of all kinds, whether it’s race, ethnicity, sexual identity or sexuality.”
Noting that the mandate of the Hollywood Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace “includes diversity inclusion of all kinds,” she said that that includes “anti-bias initiatives for all kinds of bias that may be present.”
She also said that the survey is designed to help the commission in “understanding what some of the positive experiences are, as well, because if we can understand what some of the positive experiences are, we can figure out how to replicate those for people whose experiences are not so positive.”
After the data is collected, Hill said, “Then we’re going to start the analysis, and from that analysis, will come solutions.”
She added: “We’re grateful to all the people who have done the survey,” she said, “and I would ask people if they have done it, that they recommend it to their friends in the industry. What I see as the strength of this industry is its diversity, and we want to make sure that people from all different stripes are part of the information that we’re gathering, because we want this information to be relevant to everyone.”
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