Natalie Portman has been credited as a driving force behind the Times Up movement against sexual harassment and said that women have to "stop being silent".
At the 2018 Makers Conference in Los Angeles on Monday night - a panel discussion about sexual harassment in Hollywood - the Black Swan star said: “Farm workers are told no one cares about you, you’re in the shadows, your voice doesn’t matter. And the women in the spotlight are told you’re the elite, no one cares about you, stop whining, stay silent.
"And the uniformity is just like ‘Shut up, no one cares.’ And all of our voices matter. Our voices don’t matter more, our voices don’t matter less. We all have stories to tell and need to stop being silent about injustice.”
The Israeli-born actress has previously spoken out against sexism in the industry, announcing in the wake of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein that she has "a hundred stories" to tell, a message she has repeated in an interview with Porter magazine this weekend.
Ms Portman said that the nature of Holllywood was such that it discouraged female friendships.
“We’re usually the only woman at work,” she said. “Like many industries, we walk onto a nearly all-male set, and we’re usually alone, and we rarely get to interact with each other... I think Rashida [Jones] is my only close actress friend... until now.
“The power of just all being in a room together and sharing our experiences and realizing how much we’ve been endangered by being isolated, by being the only woman in the work environment... prevents you from sharing stories.”
Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones appeared at the panel with Portman, as well as industry insiders and activists Jill Soloway, Nina Shaw, Maha Dakhil, Melina Matsoukas and Tina Tchen.
Earlier this year Ms Portman made a splash at the Golden Globes when she criticised the all-male selection of nominees for Best Director. At the Makers Conference, talent agent Maha Dakhil revealed that Ms Portman had been multi-tasking when she planned the event: “[Natalie] brought her daughter Amalia to the room and... only in true Natalie Portman elegance and strength [was] breastfeeding on the one hand and planning the Golden Globes on the other.”
