London: Ahead of Sunday's Bafta ceremony, 190 actresses and activists have written to the Observer newspaper announcing the setting up of the "new UK Justice and Equality Fund", to which former Harry Potter star Emma Watson has donated a million pounds.

Watson, 27, said to be worth £39m according to last year's Sunday Times Rich List, has left her days playing the precious Hermione Granger far behind and is now one of the leading campaigners against inappropriate behaviour in the film industry in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

She is one of the signatories to the letter which calls for the Time's Up campaign to be broadened into a global movement aimed at stamping out sexual harassment in the work place - "This movement is bigger than just a change in our industry alone."

"We believe we need to use our power as communicators and connectors to shift the way society sees and treats us," the letter says.

"This movement is intersectional, with conversations across race, class, community, ability and work environment, to talk about the imbalance of power," it adds.

Other actresses who have signed the letter include Keira Knightley (who has gifted £10,000), Emma Thompson, Jodie Whittaker (the first female Dr Who), Naomie Harris and Gemma Arterton.

Indian origin names such as Meera Syal and Archie Panjabi are conspicuous by their absence. This might be either because they think this is a campaign driven by powerful white celebrities out to be get a bit of PR for themselves or they fear taking on the male-dominated establishment will earn them a reputation as trouble makers and not help their careers at all.

This year's Bafta may be remembered less for its films and more for the gesture made by the actresses in wearing black on the red carpet, plus the 834-word letter, addressed to "Dear Sisters" and conveying the message: "Let's make 2018 the year that time was up on sexual harassment and abuse."

It invites supporters, men and women, "to join us in donating to the new UK Justice and Equality Fund, to spread the word to others, and be a catalyst for change".

The letter argues that "there is no question that Time's Up should be and will be a global movement".

"As we approach the Baftas, our industry's time for celebration and acknowledgment, we hope we can celebrate this tremendous moment of solidarity and unity across borders by coming together and making this movement international," it says.

Some of the actresses will be accompanied, not by their partners, but by "activists" in the feminist movement.