Time's Up for the Oscars over gender imbalance, campaigners warn

The Oscars will have to answer to the Time's Up campaign if Sunday’s ceremony does not redress an historic gender imbalance, leaders of the movement have told Sky News.

Launched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the campaign's aim was to bring about systemic change for women - not just in the entertainment industry but across society.

Dame Heather Rabatts heads up the UK branch of Time's Up and Lisa Borders was in charge of the US arm before announcing that she was stepping down on Monday, after allegations of sexual assault were made against her son.

They met for the first time two weeks ago in London and gave Sky News an exclusive interview.

Lisa Borders said they would be holding the Oscars to account on gender issues.

"Historically they have not done enough," she said.

"Let's see what they do this year. We'd like to give them a shot. We will give them the opportunity to display what they value, and to the extent they do not value women, they will hear from us."

The Time's Up campaign itself has faced criticism. There has been scepticism about the sincerity of the celebrities involved and how far it reaches beyond its celebrity roots.

Lisa Borders said accusations that the campaign was not focusing on real women were unfounded and that "two-thirds of the people who have reached out self identify as low income".

She admitted, however, that "we must do a better job of sharing who we're helping and who this campaign, this organisation, this movement, the sisterhood is for".

She added: "This is not just about entertainment. This is about everybody you know".

The Time's Up campaign has raised more than $24m (£18.4m) in America to help address the issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace.

It has responded to almost 4,000 requests for help and awarded $750,000 (£575,000) in grants to 18 non-profit organisations.

In the UK it has raised around £2.7m and funded 32 women's rights organisations.

Both women were at pains to stress that the organisation wants to look forward in future, changing laws and culture to prevent further injustices.

Time's up started in Hollywood just over a year ago and progress does seem to have been made on some fronts.

The films at the heart of this year's Oscars race are female-focused with Roma and The Favourite leading the way.

A record number of women - 51 - are in the ballot in non-acting categories.

Once again though, there are no women up for best director and more than two-thirds of nominees are men, signalling that real change is slow.

According to Sky News analysis, women are under represented in almost all the 17 categories studied - excluding categories that award teams, such as best picture, documentary or animated film.

Without considering acting categories, best costume design is the only category in which the number of women exceeds men.

At an event this week in Hollywood which celebrated women and female empowerment, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Sky News there was still a lot of work to do.

"We have more to do in politics, in every industry, in the military, in the academic world, in corporate America, in the entertainment industry," she said.

But actress and activist Alyssa Milano, who helped relaunch the MeToo movement in 2017, said things were changing thanks to "more women being hired in really important positions".

She added: "The way in which we're going to tell stories is going to change."

Other awards ceremonies including Bafta, Cannes and the Berlinale have made various pledges to tackle gender diversity.

But all eyes will now be on the Oscars to see if it finally follows suit on Sunday.