It’s been nearly two years since the #MeToo movement took on wide momentum, and some big questions remain: What has changed? Do we know if reports of sexual harassment in organizations have decreased? What has happened to the women who have spoken up?
It helps to look at data. In 2016, before #MeToo took off, we surveyed 250 working women in the U.S., asking about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in their workplaces and how it impacts them at work; we also interviewed 31 women in the U.S. about their individual experiences. We conducted a second survey after #MeToo, in September 2018, of 263 women, and we reconnected with some of the women we previously interviewed to see whether they’ve seen changes or have changed their views. The survey was meant to gather quantitative evidence about changes since #MeToo, and the interviews were meant to provide insight into why and how the changes occurred.
We measured sexual harassment along three dimensions: gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. Gender harassment involves negative treatment of women that is not necessarily sexual, but may include things like a supervisor or coworker making sexist remarks, telling inappropriate stories, or displaying sexist material. Unwanted sexual attention includes coworker or supervisor behaviors such as staring, leering, ogling, or unwanted touching. Sexual coercion includes bribing or pressuring women to engage in sexual behavior. We also measured participants’ self-esteem and self-doubt, to see how these correlated with their experiences.
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