Scourge of male harassment is a universal problem

▶ The headlines focus on Harvey Weinstein, but there are perpetrators all over the world

Lurid details of the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinsten’s squalid conduct continue to appear every day. Indeed, the details emerging about women who were paid off to keep their lips sealed about the abuse are accompanied by the slow realisation that his actions occurred in an ecosystem of silence. But as more allegations against Mr Weinstein surface, so, too, did Twitter hashtag #metoo, instigated by actress Alyssa Milano and shared by women the world over who have suffered sexual harassment. Unsurprisingly, the hashtag was shared more than 200,000 times within 24 hours. Like Bill Cosby, Antony Weiner and other men of power, Mr Weinstein was but the tip of the iceberg. Ms Milano’s call for women to come out and admit they were harassed resonated with so many that it quickly transformed into a movement.

But the problem runs much deeper and wider than that. A poll published this week by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranking the world’s 10 most dangerous cities for women found that almost all were in the developing world. The Egyptian capital, Cairo, was named the most dangerous megacity in the world for women overall and the third worst in terms of sexual violence. In short, whether expressed through demeaning behaviour in broad daylight or assault away from the eyes of the law, male entitlement transcends boundaries and socioeconomic class. In the developed world, it seems, power wields this entitlement, while in the third world, a lack of rights and economic hardship seem to be the culprits. The Weinstein revelations were all the more explosive given who he is, but merely served as the catalyst to a fierce backlash by women around the world who have suffered in silence for too long.