 In 2015 , Streep signed an open letter for which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures ; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini @-@ Zuma , urging them to focus on women as they served as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively , which was set to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 to establish new development goals for the generation . Also in 2015 , Streep sent each member of the U.S. Congress a letter supporting the Equal Rights Amendment . Each of her letters was sent with a copy of the book Equal Means Equal : Why the Time for the ERA is Now by Jessica Neuwirth , president of the ERA Coalition . In March 2016 Streep , among others , signed a letter asking for gender equality throughout the world , in observance of International Women 's Day ; this was also organized by the ONE Campaign . 
