#MeTooIndia: Will it change the way men behave?

Women can expose men and cost them their jobs. Power is a language that men understand

Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court after allegations of attempted rape against him divided the country on his nomination. In India, politicians were mostly silent on the allegations against M.J. Akbar until public pressure and more allegations forced him to resign as Minister of State for External Affairs. Actor Nana Patekar, who had the support of faceless online mobs, has not shown any remorse after the allegations against him. Both Mr. Akbar and Mr. Patekar have filed criminal defamation suits against their accusers.

It’s hard to be hopeful and say that the behaviour of men will change after the #MeToo movement. However, I would like to believe that this will happen. The first and toughest step in fighting any oppression is to tell the oppressor that his power over you is not absolute and that it will not remain unchallenged. #MeToo has enabled women to take that step against workplace harassment. Such harassment had been normalised to the extent that most women believed that it was a price they had to pay to become a part of the workforce. The next generation of women will not grow up with that flawed belief.

Male dominance over women is systematic, institutionalised, and, above all, physical. Power has been demonstrated through threats of harassment and rape, sexual assault, acid attacks, domestic violence and making spaces of cohabitation a source of constant threat. Women have taken to social media to challenge this and it’s working.

Men are rattled

Despite the vicious fightback by the accused and their supporters, powerful men are evidently rattled. A film production and distribution company, Phantom Films, has been dissolved; a Minister of State was forced to step down; Aamir Khan has ‘stepped away’ from Mogul after sexual misconduct allegations against a team member; journalists in more than one prominent media organisation have been asked to step down, or have volunteered to do so, after allegations against them; filmmaker Sajid Khan’s Housefull 4 has been stalled; Farhan Akhtar, along with several leading women directors, has decided not to work with harassers; and so on. Beyond the headlines, invisible wheels have started turning. Industries that had no sexual harassment policy or redress mechanisms are being forced to set up committees. Corporates are being forced to proclaim that they have zero tolerance for sexual harassment. Conversations around sexual harassment that were earlier hush-hush have become loud. The lasting impact of #MeToo, long after it stops making the headlines, will be on men who know that they don’t have the guarantee of silence, that they will be made answerable for abuse, and that their ‘boys club’ won’t be enough to protect them.

Empowering women

Despite the number of men who have come out in support of #MeToo, I do not believe men will have a sudden change of heart. But their actions will change because #MeToo has forged an alliance of the sisterhood.

The modern economy needs women in the workforce. The #MeToo movement has made it evident that being on the wrong side is also bad for business. And economy is a language that men understand. #MeToo has given women the power to expose men, socially shame them, take away their jobs, and upset their private and professional lives. Power is a language that men understand. Fear, too, is a language that men will soon come to understand.

Source: The Hindu, 26/10/2018