The Global #MeToo Movement

When US activists started using the #MeToo hashtag (as created by Tarana Burke) to speak out against sexual harassment, they joined, and then helped propel, a global movement. On every continent, women are using the new tools of social media to confront one of the oldest barriers to equality: the threat of violence, including sexual harassment, as a tool of male supremacy. In The Global#MeToo Movement, produced by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law, 48 authors from 28 countries spanning every continent but Antarctica tell the story of how social media has driven a social movement against sexual harassment, and how the law has responded, often by helping men to push back. Twenty-two of the 48 authors are women of color, and many are part of a new generation of young women bringing new insights to the fight against discrimination and harassment. The authors also include leading university professors, NGO activists, and government officials, including a justice of the Israeli Supreme Court and a member of the Irish Senate. Chapter one is by the acclaimed feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon.