The #MeToo Movement: Assessing its Impact on Women in the Workplace

This essay explores the impact of the #MeToo movement on women in the workplace, focusing on its role as an awareness campaign against sexual harassment. It highlights Tarana Burke's initial use of the term and Alyssa Milano's call to action on social media, which led to numerous women sharing their experiences. The essay also discusses the effects of the movement on workplace dynamics, referencing a survey that indicates a decrease in unwanted sexual attention and coercion but a potential increase in gender harassment due to backlash. It concludes by suggesting steps to improve the workplace for women, including recognizing inappropriate behavior, declaring zero tolerance, and increasing female leadership. Desklib offers this essay and many more solved assignments for students' reference.

Running head: WOMEN IN WORKPLACE
WOMEN IN WORKPLACE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Answer 1:
#MeToo movement is an awareness campaign against sexual harassment faced by
women in their workplaces across the globe, to raise their voices against their perpetrators. The
term #MeToo was first used in 2006 by Tarana Burke to shed light on this grave problem and
empower women who were sexually assaulted. In the month of October 2017, Alyssa Milano
urged women to write MeToo like a hashtag on the social media, Twitter to enlighten the
problems of women who were sexually harassed in their place of work (Tippett). As the term
gained popularity, thousands of women came out and reported their experiences using the
hashtag in social media. Following this, several personalities broke their silence and accused one
of the most prominent figures in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein, of sexually exploiting women.
Kevin Spacey too was accused of exploiting a 14-year-old boy. This news had taken the world
by storm however; it encouraged more and more women to share their experiences and plight in
order to punish those who deserved.
According to Burke, MeToo is a weapon that declares that the women who suffer from
sexual violence are not alone and there is nothing to be ashamed of. The person whom women
usually know often cause sexual violence, therefore, there is a need to spread awareness for
predatory behaviour (Bhattacharya). Alyssa Milano states that this campaign will help the
society to understand the gravity of this predicament and that it can be successful when the men
come in solidarity and take a stance against such behaviour that portrays women in a disgraceful
manner.
Answer 2:
To maintain a workplace free of any kind of discrimination, sexual harassment
and other misconduct becomes important for creating a better workplace environment that would

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increase productivity. Reports of sexual assault not only affects the minds of the women
employees that work there, it also tarnishes the image of the business. It has been three years
since the #MeToo movement started. However, many questions needs to be addressed as to
whether there has been any significant impact on the workplace, whether the reports of sexual
violence have decreased in any organisation and whether more and more women are speaking
up.
A survey was conducted on 250 working women across United States before and after the
#MeToo movement gained momentum. The parameters were gender harassment of any manner,
sexual coercion and any kind of unwanted attention (Johnson et al.). It was found that fewer
women reported unwanted sexual attention and coercion in the workplace. The rate had
decreased from 25% in 2016 to 16% in 2018, after the #MeToo movement achieved popularity.
Unwanted sexual attention had reduced from 66% to 25%. On the contrary, gender harassment
had increased from 76% to 92% in 2018. The data suggests that there might be a decrease in
workplace harassment however, there seems to be an increasing hostility towards women
because of backlash effect. The steps that can be taken to make the workplace better for women
include recognising inappropriate behaviour, declaration of zero tolerance towards such
behaviour and increasing the presence of female leadership (Goncharenko).

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References
Bhattacharyya, Rituparna. "# Metoo Movement: An Awareness Campaign." International
Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change 3.4 (2018).
Tippett, Elizabeth C. "The Legal Implications of the MeToo Movement." Minn. L. Rev. 103
(2018): 229.
Johnson, Stefanie K. et al. "Has Sexual Harassment At Work Decreased Since
#Metoo?". Harvard Business Review, 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/07/has-sexual-
harassment-at-work-decreased-since-metoo.
Goncharenko, Galina. "# MeToo: a journey towards a harassment-free workplace." (2019).