MeToo...A long way to go...

Language of the society is changing from blaming women for inviting harassment to blaming men for their predatory behavior.

So…. Finally the union minister M J Akbar has resigned as a minister for charges of sexual harassment against him, not by one or two women journalists but more than seventeen journalists. It took more than two weeks after the first allegation made against him. It was after much audacious behavior by the minister of filing a case of criminal defamation against the complainant. The legal notice served to her has as many as 97 lawyers advocating for the minister, clearly indicating an attempt to intimidate her and silence all others who are yet to speak up. It is a threat to the victim by exhibiting his heavy political weight. All these while, there is no clear statement either by the government of India – whom he represented, nor BJP as a political party, whose member he is. This is despite the fact that the charges against him are old, of the time when he was not even associated with BJP, he was rather close with Congress. BJP could have sacked his minister, sheer for the political reason. But it did not, showing how lightly our political parties take the issue of sexual harassment and how meek and superficial is their commitment towards “Beti Bachao….”

We are pointing finger at BJP because they are in the power right now. They are more accountable as one of their ministers is alleged to have indulged in misogyny behavior, which mounts to violation of fundamental rights of women. That does not mean others are clean. Attitude of male workers towards women co-workers is one of the ugly commonalities among all political parties, and that is very serious. But the party in power bears more responsibility of setting an example by taking politically correct action that could have possibly taken the MeToo movement at different level and could have given more confidence to the women in possibility of justice.

MeToo, though confined to the upper segment of the society and is primarily limited to using social media as a weapon, has emerged as a very important incident of the time. Individual initiatives have turned into a movement as many women from different spheres of society are coming out and sharing their experiences and not hesitating in naming the culprits. It is gaining wider acceptance. Many individuals and groups are standing besides the victims giving them more strengths. Many support groups are also formed in order to extend much needed moral, emotional and legal support.  Such wide scale support is helping many women to overcome their fear with which they lived all these years. Although one may find stereotypical remarks from many who always find faults with women, supporting MeToo seems a wider sentiment today. A movement has set in that has given strength to many women in believing in themselves, standing by each other in solidarity and compelling society to speak against the perpetrators. The language of the society is changing from blaming women for inviting harassment to blaming men for their predatory behavior. This is the most important outcome. In future women will not blame her selves. They will not wait for years for gathering courage to speak against the violator of her dignity. Girls will not be taught to keep quiet, they will be taught to hit back and approach one of the support groups for quicker actions.

The movement is important because it has challenged the deep rooted culture of misogyny in our society that is responsible in giving rise to sexual harassment. It has challenged men who don’t see any problem in taking physical liberty, as if it is a natural right. It has shaken the mindset that doesn’t believe in respecting women’s choice and don’t care to seek for her consent. Not many of the allegations will convert into legal battle, and legal justice will not be served. But it certainly has shamed many high profile men. They may face problems in their personal and professional lives in future. Hopefully their ruined career will be an example for many more before they even think of taking women for granted. Justice will prevail.

 In last one month, in response to MeToo many individuals and organizations have come out clearly in defining their policies against sexual harassment. That will compel many others to define theirs. Lasty, Maneka Gandhi has urged all political parties to constitute Internal Complaint Committee (ICC). In fact, ICC is mandatory for all organizations where women are working as per Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace  (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. But see the irony.  After five years of the legal provision, the union minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi is still requesting and not compelling.

The scope of the movement is of course, confined to urban upper segment of the society. Even in that media – films, press and electronic media – is the main occupation where women are speaking. This seems tip of the iceberg. There must be many more women who are still hesitating to speak. They must have buried past experience in order to move on, and must not be wanting to go back to the memory lane to live back the nightmare. And what about the fields other than media? Corporate sector is ill famed for derogatory behavior against women. Nobody from corporate is blamed yet. Academics, NGO, Medical profession, Legal services and politics (allegations against Akbar are by journalists and of his journalism days)… all have their share of misogynists waiting to be exposed.  What to say about the entire informal economy that is still operating with feudal values!!! Vulnerability of women multiplies if she is from backward communities and/or from rural area. It will take many more years to reach out to women from all the layers of the society.

Many are pointing out at the cases where women might have taken an advantage of their sexuality in attaining their personal goals, and are now coming out with MeToo. Possibility of such cases is not denied. Here question is one big question glaring at us. Why sexuality of women is considered a trump card for her success? Isn’t it also an outcome of misogyny mindset of which both men and women are victims? It is the time we question the undercurrent ideas that are guiding us.

That may remain to be debated. At present, at this point of time it is more important to support the women showing courage to speak against all odds. It is important to be careful about differentiating the genuine cases and the opportunist ones, but let that concern not overpower to restrict the courage that women are showing right now. Let this movement take much longer road. By giving strength to the women it is doing more good to the society than the damage.