The principle of a labor union is to protect its working members. Hollywood’s largest union, Sag-Aftra, has more than 150,000 members. Its members include the celebrities who grace the red carpets and those heroic women who have spoken out about sexual abuse in recent months. It also includes media professionals – such as myself – who are not celebrities and make up the majority of the membership.

In recent months, we have begun to uncover the culture of sexual abuse in the media and entertainment world and the deep inequities at their root. What has been largely overlooked are the thousands of nameless victims of this culture and the institutional failures that supported those abuses. Our union not only failed to protect us, it actively contributed to the culture of silence that facilitates sexual abuse.

Three years ago, with the input and support of my peers, I authored a petition to the union asking that they address the gender inequities that fuel the culture of sexual abuse that pervades our industry. We asked that they commission a targeted committee to tackle the issues of discrimination, harassment and assault, and the gender inequities that affect our workplace. Our plea included a list of actionable suggestions for the role the union might take in moving us forward.

The union was unresponsive. I met with leaders of the union’s women’s committee, and though they clearly acknowledged that women were victimized, their response was dismissive, even hostile.

Perhaps this reaction was driven by committee members’ acceptance of the limits of their power to fight the established patriarchal order. Nonetheless, we feel the response from the union was not just inadequate, but that it contributed to the culture of silence that emboldens perpetrators.

Hollywood is run by men. Only 8% of its films are directed by women, and only 13% are written by women. Most aspiring actors are women, but only 29% of principal roles are available to women. This fiercely competitive marketplace makes women increasingly vulnerable.

At least a third of the roles available to women involve nudity or hypersexualization. Ours is an industry where “nudity required” is a sanctioned term of employment for trained, unionized professionals. The horrific stories of the sex crimes committed by Hollywood moguls are shocking, but unsurprising given the way Hollywood represents women to the world.

When women are marginalized, hypersexualized and excluded from leadership in media, the established, overwhelmingly male perspectives on women that make it to our screens only serve to reinforce women’s suppression and exploitation.

Actors are freelancers, with no job security and no HR department looking after us. If we say no to the objectification, to performative nudity or simulated sex, if we reject sexual advances, let alone speak out about harassment and assault, we may never work in our industry again. When we resist, we sacrifice our means of supporting ourselves, our investments and our dreams.

The primary tenet of unions is the understanding that individually we are vulnerable, but collectively we have great power. It is the singular purpose of the union to prevent these devaluations.

As we look forward to the Sag Awards this week, perhaps we should consider the role of the labor movement in the #MeToo movement. The union must stand by women and all those it is appointed to protect in this struggle.

This struggle is about workers’ rights. It is about power – about the abuse of power that fuels harassment and the culture of silence that perpetuates it, but also about the potential of those in power to effect change.

Sag-Aftra membership has done well to vote women into positions of power in the union. But now, our union must take bold, decisive action, and honor the voices of those who have been victimized on its sets. They should do so not only for us workers, but also for the global audience under Hollywood’s influence.

• Meissa Hampton is an active member of the Screen Actors Guild and New York Women in Film and Television. She is the founder of the Actors Alliance for Gender Equity in Media
  

Sign up to receive the latest US opinion pieces every weekday