MeToo effect: 80% men in India now extremely careful with women co-workers, reveals study

As there are two sides for a coin, the Me Too movement now seems to have made some division between men and women especially in the workspace, reveals a study. The report by market research and analysis company Velocity MR claims 80 percent of men have become extremely cautious while interacting with women colleagues, post the Me Too storm.

The #MeToo movement got steam in India after actress Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment. The bold revelation of Dutta sparked the movement and many women across different fields have now raised voice against their perpetrators, accusing them of sexual harassment.

The study report has been published after taking inputs from 2,500 respondents across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Among the respondents, eight out of 10 people said that formal workplace interactions have been highly impacted as a result of the movement.

Interestingly, the survey also reveals 83 per cent of the respondents believe that there are cases of false allegations in the wake of #MeToo. In spite of respondents feeling that there are false allegations, four out of five are hopeful that this would bring about a good change, the report adds.

Nearly 80 percent of the respondents believe fear of losing their career, family reputation, social stigma, and scepticism being the key reasons why victims did not report the cases earlier. Meanwhile, around 70 percent agree that even after reporting the cases, victims still face threats.

In addition, 50 percent of the respondents criticised victims reporting the abuse later while two in five males supported the victims saying they are right in reporting the abuse when they felt like.

The study findings also claims seven in every 10 respondents said that encouraging the affected women to be independent can possibly help them speak up about the abuse.