The Encouragement Brought to Women by The Me Too Movement

All over the world, workplace sexual harassment is a big problem for women and society. This is also true in my home country of India. In this I will discuss about the history of workplace sexual abuse in India and about the Me Too movement and its impacts on the country.

The historical situation of workplace sexual harassment in India: Sexual harassment is the most burning issue in today’s world. Lewd behavior is inappropriate behavior and promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. It also includes sexual assault or abuse. It can occur in the workplace, at home, school, etc. Sexual harassment is considered illegal by the government.

India is one of the developing countries where thousands of cases come across every year. Indian society is mainly the male dominant society where men are considered more powerful than their counterparts. Due to the conservativeness of the Indian society man considered women as sex objects even if they are their colleagues. In general, it can be said that the outside environment is not safe for women. In the past when any woman tried to complain about being sexually harassed by the man then her family stopped her with the fear of being ashamed by society. Women were not able to raise their voices against this issue. And this trend continues and man starts to feel that there is no one to stop them from doing this thing with women. The other reason why this problem continuously rises is attributional bias. People in India thought that women’s work is only to do domestic work and males are responsible for earning bread and butter for the family. So women are not provided as respect as society gives to men.

Women were able to tell their problems at the workplace to others with the fear of losing their jobs ad for the sake of their respect. However, when the literacy rate of India increases, more women can work outside. But they were not feeling safe. But after the case of Vishaka V., the judicial system of India focuses on this problem. Vishaka was a social worker who worked for spreading awareness among people to stop child marriage. After this case, the government gives more attention to this topic. A bill was tabled In parliament about sexual abuse at the workplace in 2007. After that many women after this tried to complain about their problems. But the system was not improved much. Women had to wait for so much time to suit their case in the court also it was not confirmed that the court would provide justice to them or not. Powerful men gave money to big lawyers and policemen and protect themselves from legal actions.

Me too movement is the movement against sexual pressure and sexual assault mainly in India and worldwide. Initially, to movement generally be used in the context of social media, on which the victim women shared their stories of sexual pressure either in their workplace or somewhere else. The purpose of me too movement is to raise the voice of women who stay quiet on being harassed or accused. When this movement started not many women bring courage to share their stories openly. But in 2018, actress Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of being sexually harassed. This movement was started in 2006, by Tarana Burke to empower feminism. But, it was no so popular until October 2017, Alyssa Milano encouraged women on social media to use this phrase as a hashtag to put their sexual harassment stories online and share with other people. After that, Tarana Burke accepts the title of’Leader’ of this movement but she considers herself as a ‘Worker’. This movement is for men and women without any discrimination related to caste. Burke said that women should not feel ashamed while sharing their problems of sexual violence with people. Sexual violence is generally caused by someone who is known so, People should be educated from their childhood that how to say no and protect themselves from the misbehavior done by other people. This movement helps people to understand the core of the topic.

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As I mentioned before, this movement becomes popular with the involvement of Tanushree Dutta. On 26th September 2018, she gives an interview to zoom tv in which she openly accused Nana Patekar of offensive sexual advance on the set in 2009 for the movie ‘Horn ok please ‘. She filed a case against Patekar in the’ Cine and Tv Artist Association’ (CINTAA). But no one takes any action. She again tried to tell people about her case but again largely ignored. After this movement, she spoke up about her case of being harassed by Patekar in September 2018, and this time everyone listens to her and took strict action against him. She also revealed that a decade ago no one listens to her. In this case, many other women inspired by Tanushree and share their stories on social media with the phrase #Me too movement without any fear. This incident results in the success of this movement to some extent.

By this movement, many powerful men were accused and most denied by the allegation in the case of sexual harassment. When Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar, it results in a flood of allegations about sexual misconduct against women in the entertainment industry. Inspired by this Mahima KuKreja called out Comedian Utsav Chakrabarty for sexual molestation. She also revealed that the members of the Indian Comedian industry knew about this, but they remain silent including extremely popular male comedians. Among these many other women all around the world shared their case on twitter without any shame.

MJ Akbar, the former minister of state for external affairs and journalist resigned from his position because many women who worked under him put allegation on him of being sexually harassed and inappropriate behavior. Filmmaker Vikas Bhal lead to the dissolution of Phantom Films. Actor Alok Nath accused of sexual assault with women on the set. AIB shut down. As a result, ministers decided to look into legal changes and sexual harassment at the workplace. Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, was made in 2013 to protect women. According to the law, every company must create a committee of employees for handling sexual harassment cases. Also, companies should develop awareness among women about acceptable behavior. #ME TOO probably reshapes the workplace environment and makes it safer than before. Now the women are more aware of their and less willing to adjust to this misconduct. More women suit a case against men either on phone calls or text messages. The sexual harassment of women at Workplace Act, 2013, gives chance to women to file a complaint within three months. This issue is still very popular in India and the government gives its full attention to these cases. This is the sign of development and improved legal system in India.

But if we talk about the long term impact of this movement then this does not able to improve the country a lot because of the corrupted legal system. After some time actor Alok Nath comes back to the film industry and again starts to make movies. Other powerful wealthy men give money and freed themselves from these cases.

The big challenge is to encourage women to speak up openly about their cases of being sexually harassed. They must raise their voice against it so that the future of girls will secure. Media will be a great source to aware people about this issue. If all the citizens will become united and raise their voice against sexual harassment then a government to take a strict action. Government should improve its judicial system and punish the criminal equally either he is powerful or a common man.