On Monday night, actresses Amber Heard, Freida Pinto and Gabourey Sidibe gave a voice to Emily Doe, the Stanford rape survivor.

The unnamed woman was being recognised as one of Glamour’s Women of the Year, but did not appear at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Doe is a pseudonym, and the survivor’s real identity has never been revealed.

But her presence was felt thanks to the three actresses reading aloud from the devastating victim impact statement she wrote earlier this year, which sparked an international conversation about attitudes towards sexual assault when it was published online.

After being introduced by Lena Dunham, Heard – who donated much of her $7 million divorce settlement from Johnny Depp to a charity combatting violence against women – said: “Emily, wherever you are, thank you for your words. Thank you for your courage. We carry it with us every day.”

Amber Heard gives a voice to the Stanford sexual assault survivor in powerful reading