[WATCH] Women take centre stage at the Golden Globes

The 75th Golden Globe awards delivered a powerful message about and from women, addressing sexual harassment and gender inequity.

Stars wore black to honour victims at the first major Hollywood awards ceremony since the film industry was hit by various harassment scandals.

The ceremony’s host Seth Meyers set the tone for the evening in his opening monologue.

"Welcome ladies and remaining gentlemen," he told the crowd. "It's 2018 and marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't.

"For the male nominees in the room tonight, this is the first time in three months it won't be terrifying to hear your name read out loud."

Seth Meyers hosted the ceremony

Meyers also jokingly encouraged Oprah Winfrey to run for president against Donald Trump.

He referred to the 2011 White House Correspondents Association dinner when he and Barack Obama mocked the idea of Trump becoming US president.

"Some have said that night convinced him to run," he continued. "So, if that's true, I just want to say, Oprah, you will never be president. You do not have what it takes.

Oprah Winfrey summed up the evening’s mood, saying "a new day is on the horizon" when she accepted the Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday night.

After an introduction by Reese Witherspoon, the actor and philanthropist took to the stage to address racial injustice and sexual abuse on an evening in which women wore black to show support for the #MeToo movement.

Winfrey articulated a thread about female empowerment that stretched out throughout the night.

Winfrey began by discussing Sidney Poitier, who won the 1964 Academy Award for best actor and, in doing so, became the first black man to win an Oscar. Eighteen years later, he received the Cecil B DeMille award at the 1982 Golden Globes.

“In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B DeMille award right here at the Golden Globes and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award,” Winfrey said.

“It is an honor – it is an honor and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them and also with the incredible men and women who have inspired me, who challenged me, who sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible.”

Addressing the recent surge of sexual abuse victims speaking out, Oprah noted the recent revelations about Hollywood’s endemic sexual misconduct go well beyond the entertainment industry, nothing that the issue “transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace”.

She went on: “So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they’re in academia, engineering, medicine, and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.”

During the ceremony, Nicole Kidman also won the first award of the night for her role as a victim of domestic violence.

She dedicated her win to her castmates, daughters and mother, saying: "Wow, the power of women."

The theme was echoed by Laura Dern, winner of a best supporting actress for Big Little Lies, who said: "Many of us were taught not to tattle.

"It was a culture of silencing, and that was normalised... May we teach our children that speaking out without the fear of retribution is our culture's new North Star.”

Barbra Streisand also used her presenting slot to express outrage that she remains the only woman to win the best director award at the ceremony - and that was back in 1984.

Barbara Streisand accepting her award

"Folks, time's up," she said. "We need more women directors and more women to be nominated for best director."

In the TV categories, The Handmaid's Tale and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel also excelled, with two awards each.

Elisabeth Moss, named best actress in a TV drama for The Handmaid's Tale, dedicated her win to author Margaret Atwood, whose book is the source material for the series.

After reading a quote from Atwood, she told the audience: "We no longer live in the gaps... we are the story in print and we are writing the story ourselves."

#GoldenGlobes: Best TV-Series, Drama: "The Handmaid's Tale" https://t.co/nvFFlEwaU4#Globes75 pic.twitter.com/MZUo0MW3OG

— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 8, 2018

Greta Gerwig, whose directorial debut Lady Bird was named best musical or comedy film, could be seen being hugged by her film's star, Saoirse Ronan, as Streisand made her comments.

Gerwig was not nominated in the directing category - an award won by The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro - but neither was any woman.