Managing #MeToo
digital article
Suzanne Lebsock
When Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment, the dam broke. Allegations of sexual misconduct were raised against many powerful people, and millions of women shared their own stories of harassment. It's a watershed moment for equality, say Williams, a legal scholar, and Lebsock, a feminist historian. Now 87% of Americans favor zero tolerance of harassment. Half of men are rethinking their own behavior. Over 75% of people are more likely to report sexist treatment at work. Everything has changed, for a simple reason: Women are being believed. Such was not the case in 1991, when Anita Hill claimed harassment by Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas. Back then women who came forward were often discredited as "vengeful, lying sluts." But that stereotype has been drained of power by feminists who coined the term "slut-shaming" and reverse-shamed those who did it. As the #MeToo and Time's Up movements demonstrate, women will no longer be silenced. Translating outrage into action requires new norms of workplace conduct, which the authors outline. Firms are moving away from quiet settlements with victims and toward firing abusers. But employers still must follow due process and evaluate the credibility of reports. They need clear policies and fair procedures for handling harassment. No one's asking men to stop being men. But the reasonable assumption is that work relationships should be about work. You must not take one in a romantic direction if it's unwelcome, and the only way to safely tell what someone else wants is to ask. At the same time men shouldn't avoid women at work. That's unnecessary, unfair, and illegal: It deprives women of opportunities simply because of their gender. Women, if colleagues make you uncomfortable, tell them. If you're harassed, report it. The authors aren't sure they'd have said that before #MeToo, but they do now, and it signals that the world has changed.
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