In Sunday’s Golden Globes Award ceremony, Oprah Winfrey won the Cecil B. DeMille Award. It’s an honorary award given to people who’ve made “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. But Winfrey proved that she’s contributes far more than sheer entertainment. She shined like a beacon of hope for an equal world for women everywhere. 

She began her powerful speech by recalling a time as a child when she watched Sidney Poitier receive an Oscar back in 1964. She spoke about how amazing it had felt to see a man of color celebrated in such a way, and how she hoped that her winning the Golden Globe award would inspire African-American girls, just as she had been.

But her speech moved from sentimental recollections and quickly became a moving masterpiece, calling on women to continue speaking their truths.

Winfrey told women, “Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have, and I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories we tell, and this year, we became the story.”

But Winfrey didn’t just acknowledge high-profile individuals who speak out against inequality and sexual misconduct. Winfrey reminded us that women, who experience injustice at the hands of powerful men, are everywhere.

And not only did she applaud those women who speak up and say, #METOO, but she also made a non-negotiable ultimatum: “For too long women have not been hear or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. Their time is up.”

Winfrey received a standing ovation at this point, and chances are, women all over the country were standing up, too.