The #MeToo Movement in India started when Raya Sarkar, a Dalit PhD scholar compiled a list of sexual harassers in Academia (LOSHA). However, the movement gained traction when the Bollywood celebrity Tanushree Dutta called out Nana Patekar for sexual harassment. It was then that movement began to spread like wildfire. Just as how in the US the original initiator of the movement Tarana Burke wasn’t credited enough for her work to come up with the #MeToo Movement, and it only picked up pace after Alyssa Milano called out Harvey Weinstein, in India too, the woman who sowed the seeds for this movement to spread was turned a blind eye to.
The reasons as to why this happened might not be that hard to contemplate. It’s rooted in the fact that the #MeToo Movement brings along with it a lack of inclusivity and limits itself to a section of society.
Several men in power have been named in the #MeToo movement such as Alok Nath, MJ Akbar and Sajid Khan. The movement has also made a number of powerful men resign from their respective offices. However, the movement leaves little scope for debate and discussion, as the accusations leveled upon the alleged perpetrator are taken on face value, without a chance to the accused to defend himself.
This forms a classic case of vigilante justice. Furthermore, the lack of space to debate things makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between genuine and non-genuine claims. The second facet of this movement which it has been criticised for is its lack of inclusivity. The movement was seen as to favour women of a certain class, belonging to a very specific demographic, mostly educated women residing in metropolitan cities.
The movement failed to transcend from urban areas and reach the rural population. The movement also failed to include in it voices of the less privileged – of women employed in the unorganised sector despite the abuses that they might face considering the lack of a formal employment guarantee. The voices of persons with disabilities doesn’t factor into the movement as there are no braille forms available to register complaints of sexual assault.
Other than this, the movement also fails to be gender inclusive as we haven’t seen men or transgender people come out with their stories. The laws in place to address sexual harassment too are cis heterosexual in nature such as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. Transgender people too only came to be recognised as a community after the NALSA judgement and enjoyed greater freedom and autonomy after the reading down of Homosexuality under Section 377 by the Supreme Court.
The #MeToo Movement, while in some respect, has given a number of women the courage to speak out about the experiences of sexual harassment, it has only extended that courage to women who had the resources to be aware of such a movement. Attempts to take this movement to other sections of society remain limited. While there were initiatives such as the Dignity March, which aimed to make the rural population aware of the movement and help them raise their voices against sexual harassment, there haven’t been many more such instances.
A movement which is limited to a certain section of society cannot really be successful. Furthermore, it’s main objective as stated by Tarana Burke ‘Empowerment through Empathy’ cannot really be attained unless that empathy goes beyond the elitist sections of society.