Cate Blanchett issues warning about the #MeToo movement (Image: Getty Images)
I was broadcasting on the BBC back in 2017 when sexual assault allegations about Oscar-winning movie mogul surfaced.
I remember asking my listeners: “Is sexually abusive behaviour inflicted upon women by men in senior positions a showbiz phenomenon or are women in all professions, from teachers to data analysts, routinely subjected to sexual assault as we try to go about our business? Had every female listener been the victim of predatory male sexuality?”
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The lines lit up. It seemed every woman had a tale of humiliation, degrading treatment or worse.
Callers described being groped on the bus, assaulted on the Tube, pestered for sex by bosses, cornered in cupboards, pinched, slapped, held back from promotion and branded “party poopers” or even fired if they refused to go along with what was passed off by many as “banter”.
There may not be a classic casting couch in suburban estate agents or accountancy firms and no star roles in A-list movies up for grabs, but – sex-based bullying of women by men – is prevalent in all spheres.
In May 2018, the man who as a film producer had mesmerised us with Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction and Gangs Of New York was arrested and charged with rape. In February 2020 he was found guilty of two out of five felony counts and sentenced to 23 years. The #MeToo movement erupted worldwide as women – finally relieved to be heard and believed after decades of being dismissed – rushed to stand up and be counted.
Descriptions of unspeakably undignified treatment meted out in investment banks, law firms, operating theatres and retail emporia poured into the public domain.
Women began to breathe a little more easily. Surely #MeToo was powerful enough to effect significant change? No man would dare to conduct himself in a corporate environment in such a way as to provoke comparisons with the disgraced Harvey Weinstein?
Alas, eight years on, the landscape has barely changed. , who reported being sexually harassed by Weinstein, says #MeToo “never really took root” in .
She is “distressed” to discover “people seeking to dismantle and discredit those voices that were only just beginning to come out from under the floorboards into the light”. I fear Cate would still find Weinstein-like conduct flourishing in businesses all over the British Isles.