If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed Sophia Bush becoming a powerful voice in social activism. She has long used her voice for women’s rights and been an ally to the LGBTQ community. Since the Weinstein scandal broke, Sophia, like many women, continues to demand change in Hollywood and justice for victims. Last year, Sophia partnered with EcoTools to “jumpstart a social conversation around feminism, beauty, female solidarity, and sisterhood” on social media. Each time the hashtag #MyTrueBeauty was used on Twitter, $1 was donated to The Girl Project. Just this past weekend, Sophia was the keynote speaker at the Create & Cultivate conference’s Second Annual Style Summit in Houston. Prior to her address, Sophia spoke to People about how she plans to keep speaking up for all women.

Sophia Bush has long used her social media feeds as a place to voice her feelings on hot-button issues like the presidential election and gun control. But in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, she’s spoken up even more about women’s rights and the harassment so many females face on a daily basis.

“Even in ‘advanced’ countries, women are ignored, passed over, mistreated and subjugated at rates that are unacceptable,” she said. “It’s impossible not to feel frustrated when you look at the data that shows us this unfortunate reality. And until those numbers change, I’ll be rallying around, and for, women. We shouldn’t have to work so hard just to get to the starting line. The starting line should be the same for all of us.”

The actress recently shared her own #metoo story following the Weinstein allegations, and said she believes the words ‘me too’ are “the two most powerful words in the English language. If we can use them as a bridge to join hands with other women and create authentic support systems for one another, we can do anything. Being there for other women. Believing other women. Standing up for other women. Showing up for other women. It starts there.”

[From People]

I like her comment about working so hard just to get to the starting line. If I pair it with her thoughts on showing up for each other, I start to think there’s hope for us yet. As long as we underline the part about ‘all’ of us standing at the same starting line, meaning all women too, then I think we’re moving in the right direction.

In other news, Sophia left Chicago PD at the end of season four. After her departure, it was announced that she and Century Fox TV had signed a development deal so she’ll be able to stretch her wings as an executive producer. Since news of this deal did not leak prior to her departing the show, some speculated about whether Sophia had left Chicago PD of her own accord. When a user, aptly named @scottydontkno, questioned her leaving on her post announcing her deal, Sophia responded personally with, “Took me a long time and a lot of hard work to get out of that show. Please don’t demean my capabilities by degrading my position. I left because I wanted to. End of story.” I like her answer a lot. But I also want to know why she wanted off the show so badly, it sounds like there might be some behind-the-scenes gossip there. However, one thing we know about Sophia is that she addresses things in her time and on her playing field so I’ll have to wait on that. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for reading about Sophia and her fight for women. I’m cool with that.

We've said it before + we'll say it again… @sophiabush is the woman you want your daughter to grow up to be.💕 And she just slayed the #ccstylesummit stage. Her FULL keynote conversation is on our live story for the next 24 hours! Watch her drop major inspo, chat about her new movie @marshallmovie, and fill us in on her new business venture @detroitblows with her bad-ass BFF @nialauryn. 📸 @becki___smithhousephoto

A post shared by CREATE & CULTIVATE (@createcultivate) on Oct 21, 2017 at 3:21pm PDT

Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos