INDIA AND ITS #ME TOO MOVEMENT 2020 – WHERE ARE WE NOW?

WOMEN NAMED AND SHAMED THEIR ABUSERS, MOST OF WHOM HELD POWERFUL POSITIONS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS INCLUDING POLITICS, BOLLYWOOD, JOURNALISM, AND MEDIA. DESPITE THE ANTICIPATED BACKLASH, HATE MESSAGES, AND THE TABOO ATTACHED TO BEING A VICTIM, WOMEN IN LARGE NUMBERS CAME OUT WITH THEIR ACCOUNTS OF HARASSMENT AND ABUSE.

 The "me-too" was foundered for supporting the survivor and victim of sexual violence in 2006, Particularly black women and girls were the ones to find this movement and later on other young women of color from low wealth communities joined to as it was a path to justice and healing. From the beginning, the vision was to address both the dearth in resources for survivors and victims of sexual violence and to build a community of advocates, driven by survivors and victims, who will be at the forefront for the creation of solutions to interrupt sexual violence in their communities. In less than six months, because of the viral #me-too, a vital conversation about sexual violence has been thrust into the national dialogue. It wasn't as if MeToo was a sudden rage that blew up in an instant. It was the years of oppression and abuse that was built up, which had finally cracked. Even some of the men who were named in the movement didn't prove to be a shocking revelation. They are informal channels of information that are passed between women containing names of (mostly) powerful men who are known to be sexual harassers or abusers. Hence, in a lot of cases the behavior of the accused men was already known to the people around him and yet, it was neither questioned nor stopped.

Implications of #MeToo 

MeToo movement in India had both a positive as well as a negative impact on the work culture. It began to open controversy among people about what's inappropriate behavior and what does harassment constitute to. It forced companies and institutions to introspect, constitute Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) and follow the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressed) Act, 2013, also known as POSH law. In a few companies, the number of registered complaints under the POSH law also spiked. Also, more registered complaints meant that women trusted their companies to ensure a proper redressed mechanism. Most importantly, men were being called out for their behavior, even if they were not proven guilty (lack of evidence/proper trial). Granted that online trial of any case especially sensitive cases of sexual harassment and rape is an ineffective and inefficient way but, the #MeToo movement gave the woman an online platform to report their account. This reflected the failure of the justice system that discourages women to approach them via proper channels. It also gave women a sense of safety by being anonymous while reporting their cases. Thirdly, it provided the resource and support to women who wanted to report their incidents but couldn't. I found that the social response will make the authorities more responsible and further research could be done on the social protests in India, which can be of any kind. To summarize, Sexual violence or rape violates the rights of the women and it obstructs the women's ability to function as full citizens. India has ratified the international human rights treaties and is obliged to protect the rights of the women. In India, the most recent social movement was connected to rape and it pressurized the government to implement a new anti-rape law in the country. To conclude, the high prevalence of rape in India proves that the Indian government is weak in promoting or satisfying human rights, especially the rights of women. As explained the connection of the identities gender, class and caste show that the police response towards rape cases in India is not consistent. On one hand, the police will respond to cases when the perpetrators are from the lower sections of the society with lower class/caste but on the other hand, the police fail to respond when the perpetrators are from the authority and the position of the power structure in society are higher than those of the victim.