Where to go after #MeToo

Vague éphémère ou mouvement durable ?

En 2017, les femmes ont osé briser le silence sur le harcèlement sexuel. Et maintenant ? Comment faire en sorte que l’effet #MeToo ne se dissipe pas ? Après la prise de conscience, voici ce qu’il faudra changer selon le magazine britannique The Economist.

For those who care about a woman’s right to lead her life unmolested, last year began badly. A man accused of groping several women took office in the White House. (Donald Trump dismissed the allegations—as well as a tape of him boasting about his behaviour, which he called mere “lockerroom talk”.)

2.The year ended somewhat better. In October, Harvey Weinstein, a film producer, was accused of having spent decades harassing and assaulting actresses, and using his exalted position in Hollywood to intimidate

and silence anyone who got in his way. He was forced out of the firm he co-founded and is being investigated by police. Further accusations against other powerful men followed, spreading beyond Hollywood into politics, journalism and the tech industry. Dozens were sacked or stepped down.

HURRICANE HARVEY

3.Millions of women were inspired to share their own experience of harassment, using the hashtags #MeToo, #YoTambien, #BalanceTonPorc and so on. In a fitting end to a year of comeuppances, Roy Moore, who is accused

of harassment and assault by several women, including one who was 14 at the time, became the first Republican to be defeated in a Senate race in Alabama since 1992.

4.#MeToo drew attention to a facet of women’s lives to which men had been comfortably oblivious. It showed how common harassment is, and how harmful to women’s careers. But the lesson from big social changes in the past is that more needs to happen to mark a permanent shift in behaviour.

5.The signs are that the #MeToo movement has reached a delicate stage. The buffeting of

the past few months has certainly been cathartic. It has also brought abusers in a bewildering range of industries kicking and screaming into the open. But the novelty of seeing famous men brought down will soon fade.

6.Before that happens, both men and women need to come to a shared understanding of what sexual harassment is and what to do about it. If too many of them conclude that complaints are being exaggerated or exploited, they will not step in to stop backsliders. Minor transgressions will be allowed to carry on. That will make it more likely that rape and sexual assault go unpunished, too.

DEFINING HARASSMENT

7. Start with what counts as harassment. Most people can see the harm in a man trading a promotion for sex, in sexual assault or in crude groping. The divisions start with unwanted propositions, leering, sexualised put-downs and the like, particularly by a man who is in a powerful position.

8.What men try to laugh off as a compliment, or a joke, often feels like humiliation or bullying to women—and may well be intended as such. Accusations can cast a shadow over someone’s reputation, so the lack of clarity over what is appropriate and what is not can be unsettling. Men and women may wonder how they are supposed to know whether a flirtation will be welcomed or will be the prelude to a career-threatening exposure. A lack of due process only adds to the uncertainty.

9.Despite this absence of agreement, the evidence suggests that even less serious harassment causes harm. A study published in May, which followed the careers of a cohort of women in Minnesota, found that 11% had been harassed in some way in a single year. The victims went on to earn less than other women; of those who had been verbally abused repeatedly or physically touched at least once, 79% left the company within two years. That is not only wrong but also a waste of valuable talent.

10.Once there is a consensus about what is wrong and why, the new norms must be enforced. This is unlikely to involve a change in the law. Rape and sexual assault are al- ready illegal; discrimination and bullying at work are subject to employment law. What needs to change is the tacit complicity of managers and staff. HR departments often defend the boss—especially if he is seen as a rainmaker, as Mr Weinstein was. Managers want to keep their star employees, even if they are toxic, because they appear to do so much for the team.

11.Those may turn out to be false economies. When you tot up the costs of all the women who leave, never join or work less well, the harassing star may not be so valuable after all.

A NEW AGENDA

12.To change behaviour, the new standards must be enforced. Women who make complaints should not be brushed off, bullied into dropping them or gagged by settlements with non-disclosure clauses—one idea is that firms should be obliged to tell investors how many such agreements they have made. The entertainment industry, which appears so far to be an arch-offender, needs to reflect hard about whether that is related to the lack of women producers and directors.

13.Ultimately, however, much of the task will fall to peers. Men need to be alert and to step in where necessary. Women need to stand up for each other. Too many people have been blind to a problem hidden in plain sight. But Hurricane Harvey has raged through 2017 and ignorance is no longer an excuse.

What needs to change is the tacit complicity of managers and staff.