In October, it will be five years since the #metoo movement first hit the international headlines, brought to the fore by the revelations of sexual harassment and abuse by Harvey Weinstein, the head of the Hollywood Studio Miramax.
In the wake of the scandal women the world over took to their social media accounts to share their own tales of being harassed, attacked, and abused in the workplace. The sheer number of revelations and the public shock and outrage they generated made it clear that it was time for this issue to be addressed.
Sexual harassment in the workplace was no longer permitted to be relegated to a roll of the eyes and “boys will be boys”mentality. The tired, old comedic trope of a boss chasing his secretary around the desk was laid bare for the horrific abuse of power that it was. Men who engaged in sexually harassing acts against women were soon warned by a connected social media hashtag that their #timesup.
But how significant were the changes made and what improvements have there been in terms of protecting and supporting women experiencing harassment within the workplace? How does the experience of women in the corporate world differ now from their experience before the movement began?
What has changed after #metoo for women in the corporate world?
In the wake of #metoo, one of the go-to PR moves by companies across the globe was to issue statements publicly affirming their commitment to creating a fair and equal workplace and working to correct the wrongs of the past. But five years on what has changed in terms of official policies and guidelines in the corporate world?
Many high-powered corporate heads rolled in the wake of the scandal with price shares and the public reputations of companies damaged. CEOs were disposed of by their boards as their own abuses of power were revealed and it turned out that sexual harassment did not sit well with stockholders.
Many corporations also chose this time to make highly publicized new appointments of female corporate in positions of power, in the hope that this would combat a boys club mentality within their corporate structures. These appointments also allowed companies to make a public statement about where they stood in relation to the scandals rocking the corporate world.
How did policies and regulations change?
2022 marks the first year that more companies published an official sexual harassment policy than didn’t, according to Gender Equality Data Organisation Equileap. 57% of mid to large-sized companies across the globe produced their policies and regulations about harassment in the workplace. UK companies were shown to be lagging behind with a percentage of only 42% in comparison to countries such as Italy (73%) and France (69%).
However, in July 2021 the British Government passed legislation that will see employers become liable if their employees are victims of sexual harassment within the workplace. This marks the first major government statute addressing the issue since #metoo. It is possible that a legal threat may help to motivate the 53% of UK companies thatare still behind the curve with regards to their published sexual harassment policies.
Has the number of sexual harassment cases decreased?
Despite the publicity and media glare created by #metoo, areport by UN Women published in 2021 revealed that 97% of women aged between 18-24 had experienced sexual harassment with 96% of them stating they saw no point in reporting it because they believed nothing would be done.
In the business world itself, 45% of women reported that during the pandemic they had been subject to sexual harassment while remote working. The distance of online work platforms, zoom, and messaging may have emboldened harassers. In fact, the women surveyed reported in a Rights of Women survey, that they had actually seen an increase in harassment at work since the pandemic began. This does not bode well for women’s full-time return to the workplace.
What needs to change for the future?
The already fast-paced news cycles of media, social media,and online trends are ever-quickening in a world where the attention span of the public seems to be ever shortening. As a result, important campaigns such as #metoo and #timesup can become victims of their own success. The high intensity of the campaign initially and media saturation of Hollywood stars and scandals meant that when the next big controversy hit, many were only too happy to change focus and move on tothe next thing.
However, to ensure that the ripples of #metoo continue to have real-life ramifications for women in the corporate world today, vigilance is key. It has been amply demonstrated on the world stage that old-fashioned mentalities which enabled sexual discrimination and harassment without consequencesare no longer acceptable to the modern world.
New incoming legislation from the government which would see employers being held legally responsible for harassment that occurs in their workplaces may spur significant changeswithin the corporate world. As was demonstrated during the #metoo high tide, nothing will make a corporation change itspolicies faster than the chance of losing money and damaging its public image.
How do women navigate the workplace in the wake of #metoo?
There is still a long way to go in terms of corporations and companies following through with the promises thrown out at the world at the height of the #metoo scandal. And as the statistics show, women are still subject to an unacceptable amount of harassment whilst working within UK companies.
To see further change women must look to the steps which made #metoo such a success in the first place. Namely,women supporting other women, listening to each other, and empowering each other to share their stories and find their voices.
Silence, tolerance, and resigned acceptance will never allow for real, important, and much-needed changes to be pushed forward in the corporate world. And it is women who will need to continue pushing.