Last week was the much-awaited Oscars which is exciting for a lot of reasons, but what really caught my attention was very much on how they would handle to highly publicised #MeToo and #Time’sUp campaigns. Clearly the pressure was on, especially with it being both the 90th anniversary of the event, as well as the first since the actions of Harvey Weinstein came to public attention.

So, what happened? How was it handled? And most importantly, was it handled correctly? Well largely yes; it was handled very well. Jimmy Kimmel opened the event, blending the political element with his own brand of sarcastic, but tasteful humour in his opening dialogue. I think showing an awareness and bringing the political side of what’s been happening from the start of the event set the correct tone and gave the campaigns the respect they deserve.

Many of the award winners and people speaking at the movements. From discussing the concept of an equality rider (expanding on a normal contract rider which denotes items and facilities the performer must have to be able to work), to temporary tattoos naming the cause (even if the attention this received many revolved around a grammatical error in the tattoo).

So, with all this, is there change happening? Some, and slowly, but that’s not enough. Evidence of this is the recent news of Catt Sadler from E! receiving HALF the pay of her co-host; Jason Kennedy. E! have since provided their reasoning for this pay gap, citing differing responsibilities and experience, though many familiar with the hosts’ work dispute this.

On a different note I recently heard the quote “When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression” which really hit home with me regarding this topic. It was first said in 2016 by Clay Shirky, though similar phrases had been used before. While it’s a blanket statement, I definitely think it carries some truth. To many the idea of an equality rider will mean their workplace will change, and in some cases skilled workers may miss opportunities due to companies having to meet equality riders and so on. While I like, and support the concept of an equality rider, I fear they are a blunt tool, but maybe that’s what we need at this stage. A blunt tool may well be better than no tool. I think many will feel the equality rider is oppression to begin with, but the aim of them is to have the diversity of the cast and crew accurately reflect the diversity of the surrounding population, not to try and make up for previous years damage, just to be fairer and inclusive moving on.

Overall, I’m glad to see the increased awareness, and particularly Hollywood standing up and paying attention to diversity and equality, and while becoming more normalised, people are not backing down yet. I am sceptical though about whether the media has the sticking power to keep on topic as it’s clear this is a slow battle. I hope it does though. I really do.