Actress and women's rights campaigner Emma Watson has helped launch a free specialist legal advice line for women in England and Wales experiencing sexual harassment at work.

The advice line is run by UK charity Rights of Women and is funded by the movement Time's Up UK Justice and Equality Fund, which is managed by Rosa, the UK Fund for Women and Girls. 

The initiative will offer employment law advice, including how to identifying sexual harassment, how to bring a complaint against an employer, how the employment tribunal procedure works, as well as advice on settlement agreements and non-disclosure agreements.

The advice line has officially launched today thanks to various donations, including from Watson who is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series and as an activist for Time's Up UK.

The Time's Up fund is made up of donations by the public following the #MeToo movement, which highlighted the scale of the problem of sexual harassment. According to Time's Up, as many as one in two women have experienced sexual harassment at work.

In a statement, Watson said: "It's completely staggering to think that this is the only service of its type, given that research has found that as many as one in two women experience sexual harassment in the workplace.

"Understanding what your rights are, how you can assert them and the choices you have if you've experienced harassment, is such a vital part of creating safe workplaces for everyone, and this advice line is such a huge development in ensuring that all women are supported, wherever we work."

Rights of Women senior legal officer Deeba Syed said in a statement: "For too long there has been a gap in available legal advice in this area for those who need it most. Many women still do not have access to the right help and support they need to hold their employer and harasser to account. Our advice line will help plug that gap."

Opening hours for the advice line are Mondays 6pm–8pm and Tuesdays 5pm–7pm.