THE VIEWS
From Weinstein to Bollywood, it is no coincidence that many of the allegations being raised are pointed at members of society with extensive economic influence and power over their victims
Sexual harassment and the economics of #MeToo
Ayear after the Harvey Weinstein story first broke, India’s own #MeToo movement is finally taking off. Working women are coming forward on social media with stories and details of various forms of sexual harassment and misconduct. These stories, painful as they are to process, are necessary to read so as to engage with some important questions that they raise: What is it that keeps the perpetrators of sexual harassment and misconduct continually in positions of power? What keeps victims silent? And above all else, what steps need to be taken to remedy this?
One often overlooked frame of reference to keep in mind while responding to these questions is that of economics. Understanding sexual harassment as an economic problem is crucial: It is no coincidence that many of the allegations being raised are pointed at members of society with extensive economic influence and power over their victims. Many of the (carefully curated, often hedged) responses by companies linked to these individuals can be interpreted both altruistically and as an attempt to mitigate an impact to the bottom line.
A hard sell
It is also no coincidence that victims have often been unwilling to use the legal and political frameworks that exist to protect and enable them to come forward. There are economic relations that exist between everyone involved: between alleged perpetrators and victims, between victims and the economy at large and between the public and the companies that employ alleged perpetrators.
These relations encompass a number of power dynamics that help keep victims silent and perpetrators in power, as the experiences of the American media in connection with the Weinstein allegations show. The question is often asked: Why did no one around Weinstein speak up? A simple answer is that there was little short-term financial incentive for those in power to do so.
At the same time, attempting to use mechanisms that are designed to hold senior figures accountable (such as the board of directors) would have been a hard sell because the primary motive (i.e., creating profits) was still being met.
The relationship that many victims have with the larger economy is equally important in explaining why they don’t speak up and why they are unable to leave situations of harassment. A November 2017 report commissioned by the Centre for American Progress details how harassment is not only a broad-based socioeconomic problem, but that lowerwage workers often face stronger power dynamics that allow employers to harass them without retaliation. They are unable to speak out because to do so could risk retaliation in the form of job loss or wage cuts, both legally and illegally.
Once allegations of sexual harassment are made public, the big question that arises is how the companies and businesses associated with alleged perpetrators will react. Sexual harassment costs companies in terms of lost hours and employees, legal costs, fines and public perception. Putting a rupee value on these costs would go a long way toward encouraging companies who are profit motivated to restructure accordingly. The next step should involve looking at ways in which to widen and strengthen the social security nets and other systems that will encourage victims to come forward without risking their financial stability.
Finally, there needs to be concerted efforts to encourage consumer choices that align with gender-progressive companies. This is arguably the most challenging step to take as it not only involves individual action at a large scale but also because it requires information about actual steps taken by companies (to thus avoid gendered pink-washing).
There are many more steps that need to be taken, of course. Only addressing some of the economic disparities that enable harassment will not mean that harassment will stop. Indeed, an over-reliance on an academic approach to something that involves real people and real, human emotions is dangerous. Ultimately, sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement generate difficult questions and no easy answers; they involve an interplay of power structures, cultural issues and other -dimensions and all indications point to a long, painful process that may not yield any actual meaningful results.